| LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. J 



J UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.! 

i^A.A.«U». <r» ^, tt. o. ^ — T 



DAVID THE KING; 



WITH A STUDY 



THE LOCATION OF THE PSALMS 



ORDER OF DAVID'S LIFE. 



By the Rev. CHARLES E. KNOX, 

n 

AUTHOR OF "A YEAR WITH ST. PAUL." 



5 W 
.'3/J5 0"~, 



NEW YORK . 
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & CO., 

770 BROADWAY. 






Copyright, 1875, by Rev. Charles E. Knox. 



LC $l-lloHl> 



ROBERT RUTTCR, EDWARD 0. JENKINS, 

BINDER, PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER, 

84 BEEKMAN STREET, N. T. tO NORTH WILLIAM ST., N. 1. 



INTRODUCTION. 



It is my conviction that the best method of studying or. 
of teaching the Bible is by biographical centres. The doc- 
trinal and abstract books should live and move in the very 
life of their author. They were so connected in the minds 
of the original readers. The epistles of St. Paul are new 
letters to one who has read them as a part of the active 
magnetic career of the great apostle. The dry chapters 
of Leviticus and Numbers will be instinct with vitality, 
when they move in the person of Moses and in the Hebrew 
and Egyptian society which surrounded him. The greater 
part of the whole Scriptures really revolves around the few 
lives of Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, St. Paul, St. John, 
and our Lord. Whoever can infuse into these more ab- 
stract doctrines the real spirit which they had to living men 
when they were written, by making them flow along the 
thought, feeling and action of the life which produced 
them, does a valuable service. I have tried to do this in 
respect to David and his Psalms, in pursuance of a plan 
which includes the leading biographical centres of the 
Scriptures and the doctrinal, legal, devotional or prophet- 
ical books which surround these centres. 

It is remarkable that no modern exploration of the land 

and of the history of Palestine has been made consecutively 

along the line of David's life.' It is of course impossible 

(iii) 



i v " INTRODUCTION. 

to give an exact location to every Psalm, but enough may 
be suggested to show how full of fresh power the Psalms 
were when first written. Any probable arrangement will 
make these wonderful songs of the Sweet Hebrew Singer, 
start into livelier action and into stronger command of our 
spiritual feeling. I have freely taken many suggestions 
from other writers than those whom I have quoted. 

This life of the King was principally written in the midst 
of the busy cares of a pastor's work, and doubtless will 
appear in many places hasty and defective, to the more 
critical student. It is designed, however, for the people, 
and especially for the young — in Bible-classes, colleges, 
schools, and families, and I hope may help them to 
a clearer conception of the great Psalmist, Warrior, Priest, 
and Ruler. 

Bloomfield, N. J., November, 1875. 



CONTENTS. 



I. — The King's Birth-place i 
II. — Brothers and Sisters of David . 9 
III.— The Tribe of Judah . . . .15 
IV. — The Family in the Tribe . . 23 
V.— Religion and Education in Bethle- 
hem .3° 

VI. — From the Old Government to the 

New 37 

VII. — The King 44 

VIII.— The King's Son 50 

IX. — The Rise and the Fall ... 56 

X. — The Seer at Bethlehem ... 62 

XI.— The King sends for David . . 68 

XII. — The Public Introduction . . 73 

XIII.— An Evil Eye ...... 81 

XIV. — David's First Psalms ... 86 

XV. — Deception and Falsehood ... 95 

XVI. — Outlaws and Caves . . . . 10 1 

XVII. — The High -Priest transferred to 

David 107 

XVIII. — Rescue from God 113 

XIX — A Soft Answer 120 

XX. — Nabal and Abigail . . . .127 

XXI.— Coals of Fire 136 

XXII. — "Gone Over to the Philistines " . 142 

XXIII.— Taken Away in Wrath . . . 151 

XXIV. — The Crown and the Bracelet . .158 

XXV.— David, King of Judah . . . 167 

XXVI. — King Ish-bosheth 175. 

XXVII. — Abner and David transfer the 

Kingdom 183 

(v) 



vi CONTENTS. 

XXVIII.— Psalms in Hebron .... 192 

XXIX.— The Coronation 200 

XXX. — The Capture of Jebus . . . 206 

XXXI. — David's Growing Fame . . .216 

XXXII. — The New Tabernacle for the Ark* 224 

XXXIII. — Michal and David .... 233 

XXXIV. — Psalms for the Tabernacle . . 241 

XXXV.— A Holy House of Cedar . . .251 

XXXVI.— Full Conquest 259 

XXXVII.— The Conquest Complete . . .269 

XXXVIII.— East of Jordan 278 

XXXIX. — Order, Renown, and Power . . 288 

XL.— The Royal Court and Family . 297 

XLI. — A Generous and Adoring Heart . 305 

XLII. — The Heathen and their Insult . 314 

XLI 1 1. — Psalms of Victory and Praise . ,321 

XLIV. — Crime in the King .... 327 

XLV— The Curse of Sins at Home . . 338 

XLVL— Conspiracy by Absalom . . . 346 

XLVII. — The King's Escape . . . .355 

XLVIII. — The Rebellion and the Rebels . 366 

XLIX— Tumult and Restoration . . .376 

L. — The Rebellion of Sheba . . 382 

LL— Songs of Faith in Trouble . . 389 

LII. — Three Years' Famine . . . 398 

LIIL— Songs in Old Age 405 

LIV. — The Census and the Pestilence . 411 
LV. — Preparations for the Future Tem- 
ple 420 

LVI. — Adonijah's Conspiracy . . . 430 
LVII. — Jehovah's Choice .... 439 
LVIII. — Jehovah's House and Jehovah's 

Builder 446 

LIX — The Last Days 454 



DAVID THE KING-. 



Jfirst jSitnimg, 



THE KING'S BIRTH-PLACE. 



LESSON. 

i Samuel xvii. 12 ; xvi. 1, 11-13 ; 2 Samuel xxiii. 15, 16 ; Luke ii. 4 ; John vii. 42. 

KING DAVID must have gone often to visit the place 
where he was born. He was such a warm-hearted 
man that persons and places became greatly endeared to 
him. And Bethlehem was about half-way between his two 
royal capitals. Hebron and Bethlehem and Jerusalem 
were the three most elevated towns along the ragged 
water ridge between the Salt Sea and the great sea west- 
ward. They were in a straight line. Seven and a-haif 
years king in Hebron, thirty-two and a-half king in Jeru- 
salem, we may be sure that he often drank of the well at 
the gate of Bethlehem, as, alone with Joab, or with a 
troop of warriors, he threaded the ups and downs of that 
rocky road. 

But when David was born, there was no such city as 
Jerusalem. There was a city, Jebus, six miles north of 
Bethlehem. And there those strong mountaineers still 
defended themselves, of whom the twelve spies brought 
back word to Moses that the Jebusites dwell in the 
mountains. Even after Joshua was dead, a Levite travel-' 



2 FIRST SUN DA Y. 

ing past Jebus, although permitted, would not lodge in 
that " city of a stranger " over night.* 

Bethlehem itself — Ephratah, or Ephrath it used to be 
called, from the time of Jacob downwards — must have been 
a well-fortified place in Jesse's day, with those resolute and 
insolent enemies only six miles away. Jesse's grandfather, 
Boaz, called the elders together at the gate of the city, 
which shows that the city had walls then. The action of 
the judges at the gate, the conference of the people, the 
elders called in accordance with law, the dignity and influ- 
ence of Boaz in connection with judges and people and 
elders — all these show that it was the same little center 
of the same little district as it was when, more than a 
thousand years later, Cyrenius, Governor of Syria, ap- 
pointed his publicans there to gather the Emperor Augus- 
tus's tax. It was a little city — little among the thou- 
sands of Judah f — one of about a hundred conquered 
towns that fell to the lot of Judah at the first distribution 
of Joshua, when " the children of Judah" could not drive 
out the inhabitants of Jebus. The two cities, therefore, 
looked askance at each other in rude oriental defiance 
and challenge at every outbreak between the new-comers 
and the old inhabitants of the land ; for, throughout David's 
life, as in modern times, Bethlehem has been noted for good 
fighters, fierce and ready. It is altogether likely that 
Bethlehem was only a strong fortification — a natural 
height, " fenced " with limestone walls, which here and 
there had been broken through in turbulent times, and 
patched with masonry again. Its little cluster of houses, 
Jesse and Obed and Boaz and Salmon, had helped to 
defend, by arts of peace and war, from the days of the 
conquest. 

Beautiful as the name now is to us, Bethlehem never 



k Judges xix. 10-12. \ Micah v. 2. 



THE KING ' S SIR TH-PLA CE. 3 

had the attractions of cur American or English village. 
No spires of churches glistened in the sunlight through all 
the centuries. And no large windows looked out like eyes 
from intelligent houses along the streets. The little half 
or quarter-windows with their lattice, the blank: house- 
walls, one principal narrow street, the low flat roofs — these 
certainly, were the features of the town even at that early 
time. 

But, if the little city was not beautiful itself, it was 
beautifully situated for a town of Judaea, and perhaps that 
was all the beauty which any city of the land possessed. 
From whatever direction you approached, the appearance 
of Bethlehem was striking. The whole rocky crest, 
stretching from Jebus to "the South," was then, no doubt, 
as now, gnawed by the tooth of torrents which plunged 
into the Salt Sea. Gaps, chasms, channels, ravines, of 
the most fantastic and mixed forms, abounded in a wilder- 
ness of limestone and chalk-rocks, and opened and yawned 
towards a sea that seemed to lie in the crater of an extinct 
volcano.* Towards the west this crest widens into a high 
rocky table, the western edgt of which was cut by less 
steep ravines, which, at first sloping rapidly, at length swept 
out to the smiling plain of the Philistines. From Hebron 
to Jebus the rocky mule and camel path, rough and moun- 
tainous, runs straight along nearly the centre of this table, 
dipping into little valleys, cutting obliquely over ridges, 
making its way along the side of rocky hills, around rocky 
points, but crossing always the heads of torrent-beds which 
take their way to the Salt Sea, till, just at Jebus, the 
waters run east and west to both seas. Only half-a-mile 
w T est of Bethlehem, over the hill from the town, a little 
valley bears the rains off to the great sea towards the sun- 



* The strata are sometimes level, and formed into rough ter- 
races, but are violently disarranged. From Jerusalem to Jericho 
the contortions are twisted into every shape. 



4 



FIRST SUNDA V. 



set. Taking this hill as the head, a long, narrow rocky- 
height, lying across the north and south crest, stretches off, 







'' >T>&t\ 







J 
J 

<0 



If 

Whdi 



Mountains of Moab 



from west to east, towards the Salt Sea. There is a deep 
valley on the north and a deep valley on the south. Just 
near the head of this lon^ cast and west mountain-hill sat 



THE KING'S BIRTH-PLACE. 5 

the city, a maiden then of only six or seven centuries old,* 
looking off into the valleys north and east and south, and 
upon the hills across the valleys, where her eyes fell upon 
gardens and olive-orchards and fig-orchards, and vineyards, 
and grain on stony fields, and flocks of sheep and goats. 
From the gate at the western end of the town — even if the 
western end were differently located from what it now is 
— Jesse or Obed could see " the long, solid purple wall of 
the Moab and Gilead mountains," far across the deep, 
mysterious gulf of the Salt Sea and Jordan. We may 
suppose, from the present size and surface of the place, 
that the principal, street rapidly descended from this west- 
ern gate, and then ran nearly level to the eastern gate, 
about half-a-mile away. Round, grey hills of barren lime- 
stone now fill up the view from every height around, with 
but scanty vegetation, and fields of grass here and there ; 
but in that early day their sides, at least, and the valleys 
between, were covered with verdure, diversified with 
forests, and terraced, as they still are, for gardens, or- 
chards, and vineyards. The numerous palms on the shore 
of the Salt Sea, washed up in modern times, where the 
living tree has not been seen for many centuries ;f the 
forests mentioned in the books of Samuel and Kings, in 
places where there are now no forests ; the thickly-strewn 
ruins of all this region, which show that a far denser popula- 
tion was once supported here ; the waste, in forests espe- 
cially, of centuries of war ; the increased dryness and heat 
when forests are removed, and the consequent rapid de- 
crease of vegetation and soil — all go to show a higher vege- 
tation in ancient days than now. We suppose, then, that, 



* The first notice of Ephrath, or Bethlehem, is in Jacob's time. 
See Genesis xxxv. 16-19. 

f "The whole shore of the Salt Sea," says Mr. Poole, in the 
English Geographical Society's Journal, "is strewn with palms." 
See, too, Stanley's " Sinai and Palestine," p. 26. 



6 FIRST SUNDA Y. 

on the sides of these present naked grey hills, and in these 
half-fertile valleys, Boaz and Jesse saw woods of oak, the 
small and the large species ; widespread orchards of the 
dusky-green olive, with its twisted stem and luxuriant foli- 
age ; everywhere through the land groves of the stately palm, 
with its feathery branches set like a fan in the top of the 
trunk, and supported by clustering dates ; the carob-tree, 
here and there, dense with leaves and hanging pods ; 
abundant vineyards, only less fruitful and less celebrated 
than those of Eshcol, just north of Hebron ; the plane- 
tree, the poplar, the tamarisk, wherever there were streams ; 
the beautiful oleander, filled with bright flowers and dark- 
green leaves ; the large sycamore on the plains ; orchards 
of broad-leaved figs, with their two or three crops a year ; 
the bright-green thorn-bushes ; the wild olive and haw- 
thorn shrubs ; the pomegranate bush, a tender green in 
leaf, scarlet in blossom, red in fruit ; gardens of balsam 
aDd of roses next the villages ; rows of quince, apple, 
Smiond, walnut, apricot, and peach ; white daisies and 
crimson anemones, tulips and poppies in the Spring, with 
a great variety of beautiful and brilliant flowers ; and 
that, when they went down a thousand feet into the hot 
Jordan chasm, all about them were other and different 
classes of tropical plants and flowers, and beneath their 
feet, even at the Salt Sea, an abundant saline vegetation. 
Far and wide, as Boaz or Jesse climbed a commanding 
height, his eye could penetrate through the transparent air 
to objects great and small, made distinct by the exceed- 
ing brightness of the light. From heights about Hebron 
he could see the land of Moab and "the South;" from 
hills three or four miles west from Bethlehem the ocean of 
barley and golden wheat and green millet along the Phil- 
istine plain, with villages and walled towns, with herds of 
cattle and sheep and goats on their way, in various direc- 
tions, to pasture ; with reapers, and wells, and threshing- 



THE KING ' S BIR TH-PLA CE. j 

floors, and dunes along the sea-shore. A sharp-nosed fox 
or two, darting out of cover, remind him of Samson's fire- 
brands in yonder grain-fields ; or dripping honey and a 
buzzing swarm suggest Samson's riddle. An eagle wheel- 
ing in the air, a vulture or a hawk, meets his eye as he 
turns homewards, or an owl under the deep shadow in a 
rock-crevice, or a flock of partridges on the quick run 
across the path, or pigeons and turtle-doves alighting at 
their cotes. Next morning, taking his way down the 
eastern ravines, he hears, long before sunrise, the Jordan 
nightingale, the finest songster of the land, pouring up- 
wards its sweet notes from the thick jungles of that 
tumbling stream, and, later in the day, the glossy starling, 
from low down the Kedron gorge, " the roll of whose 
music makes the rocks resound." 

We must notice one feature more of the country around 
the infant at Ephratah, and then we are prepared to begin 
with that tittle life which, even in this distant land, has 
become to us so precious and so great. We must look 
into the caverns of that rocky district. No description of 
the Judaea of the Judges and the Kings would be complete 
without them. All limestone districts abound in caverns. 
They abound, therefore, throughout Judaea ; but from 
Jebus along the tooth-gnawed crest to the lower end of the 
Salt Sea, and down the second steep to the very shores 
of the sea, they are innumerable. " Every hill and ravine 
is pierced with them." There are rents and cavities, and 
holes and caves, some large, some small, some hollowed' 
out and enlarged by man's device, and some mere grottoes. 
Here were some of the " dens," and "caves," and "pits," 
and "holes," and "rocks," in which the Hebrews hid, 
when the Midianites and the Philistines pressed them too 
hard. Sometimes these caverns were inhabited by shep- 
herds and herdsmen to be near their flocks, as a cool 
retreat from the scorching heat of summer, and by robbers, 



8 FIRST SUNDA Y. 

who enlarged them into connected chambers, secret and 
unseen. Some were made use of as cisterns and sepul- 
chres. And some were the lairs of wild beasts, — the lion, 
the panther, the bear, the hyena and the wolf, the jackal 
and the fox — not all at once, perhaps, but as they crept 
in through the jungles of Jordan or the southern wilder- 
ness. 

Here, in this wild region, then, we suppose far more 
beautiful than its barren rocks now — here, in this little 
city, the King was born. Who can tell the year? Who 
can point out Jesse's house ? Was the house on the 
principal street ? Yes. Boaz was a mighty man in station, 
and his family has not lost place on the way towards 
royalty. It is enough to know that in the inner court of a 
house on this street, and in the women's apartments, 
carried out now and then on the shoulder or the hip, 
according to the oriental custom, the child's first three or 
four or five years were passed, until at length, 'his hand in 
his father's, little David is able to walk even out of the 
city gate. 



SKontr Sttttbm 



BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF DAVID. 



LESSON. 

i Chronicles ii. 13-17 ; 1 Samuel xvi. 1, 6-12 ; xvii. 12-14, 2 8, 42 ; xx. 29 ; 2 Sam- 
uel ii. 18 ; iii. 39 ; viii. 16 ; xvi. 9 ; 1 Chronicles xxvii. 18. 

DAVID himself was (he youngest of the eight sons — 
probably of all the children — in the house of Bethlehem. 
As the child begins now to walk and speak, he is the attrac- 
tion of the house. His eyes were sharp and bright ; his 
complexion ruddy, or his hair auburn, for we cannot tell 
to which the description, " he was ruddy," applies, and it 
may have included both complexion and hair ;* the ex- 
pression of his face attractive, as the twice-repeated phrase, 
" fair of eyes," indicates ;f and his form handsome and 
graceful. J The gifts of speech in the man show what the 
prattling child was ; just as the loveliness and affectionate- 
ness of his childhood are reflected. to us in the natural 
facility with which he inspired love afterwards. 



* The word rendered " ruddy" means red, or reddish. Both 
the Greek word of the Septuagint and the Hebrew word seem to 
signify all shades of red, and they are sometimes applied to 
hair. " The reddish color of the hair was regarded as a mark of 
beauty in southern lands, where the hair is generally black." 
Keil and Delitzsch. 

f " Fair of eyes " is the Hebrew in 1 Samuel xvi. 12 (see mar- 
gin), and xvii. 42. 

% " A comely person." I Samuel xvi. 18. " A man of figure " 
is the Hebrew. 



IO SECOND SUNDAY. 

We see him as the youngest, " the Beloved " or " the 
Darling " of the house, as the name which his parents gave 
him means.* And names in that family evidently had 
been given for personal qualities ; for the great-great-grand- 
mother was Naomi, pleasant, and the great-grandmother, 
Ruth, a friend, and the great-grandfather was ~Boaz,fieet- 
ness, and swiftness of foot was still characteristic of the 
family, as we shall see ; and the grandfather was Obed, 
servant {of God), and the name of Jesse probably means 
the firm, or the upright. The youngest son is likely to be 
the favorite of parents, if the family is large, because he is 
the little one of the whole flock, and it is not often that he 
grows to man's estate while his parents are living. And 
David, even after he was grown, was small compared with 
his oldest brother, Eliab, as even Samuel thought. 

But let us look in upon the rest of the children. 

First, there were David's two sisters. The fact that their 
children were David's familiar companions and attendants 
after he became king seems conclusive that they were 
either the oldest of the family or among the oldest. The 
mother of such men as Abishai and Joab and Asahel could 
have been no ordinary woman. She was Zer-u-i-ah, the 
first-mentioned of the two. Let us suppose her next to 
Eliab in the family. Perhaps it was because her father 
Jesse's Hebrew name was Ishai that she named her first 
son — perhaps the first grandson in the family — Ab-ishai, 
father of firmness or of uprightness, if we rightly interpret 
Jesse's name (as the name of a son of Ner was Ab-ner), 
the prattling playmate of little David, as afterwards in 
camp and flight and battle, his faithful friend and defender 



* David must have been a new name, for it does not appear 
in the Bible before; The custom, long before this time, was in 
use of naming children from some special circumstances of their 
birth or appearance. See rea ons for names, in Gen. xvii. 5, 15 
17,19; xxv. 25, 33; xxvii. 36 ; xxix. 32-35, etc. 



BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF DA VI D. 1 1 

all his life. We may be sure that the fierce, impulsive, 
stout-willed Joab, who was afterwards the general of Da- 
vid's army, and blood-avenger of Asahel, and who dared 
disobey the king's express orders, even up to thrusting his 
darts through Absalom when he was caught in the oak — 
we may be sure that joab, who was a great trouble as well 
as a great comfort, was sometimes an uncomfortable play- 
mate in the court of Jesse's house. Many a wrestle and 
tumble and wordy contest, if not boyish battle, the young 
king and the young general must have had in house and 
street and hill-side. How their shouts in the court some- 
times brought out Jesse or Zeruiah from some near apart- 
ment, or down from the house-top, with a sharp word fol- 
lowing ! As for Asahel — God's creature is the meaning of 
his name, perhaps for his lightness and fairness — he was 
as light of foot as a roe in the field. Valleys and hills and 
mountains were alike to him, as he outsped his brothers or 
his uncle down the ravine, and up the heights for a look 
at Jebus, or cooled his panting body in the warm waters of 
the Jordan, or on the dull shores of the Salt Sea. These 
three grandsons and their uncle David, are four far more im- 
portant members of Jesse's house than any four sons of the 
family. And three sons so varied and so marked in char- 
acter, show clearly that the mother, whose- name is, no 
doubt, for that very reason connected with her sons, was 
a woman of varied accomplishments of mind and person. 
Picture to yourself a dark-haired, sharp-eyed, quick- 
spoken, nimble-footed Jewess, whose reasons and manner 
carry weight with Jesse and the older brothers, and whose 
strong womanly nature corrects and nurtures her three 
sons, and her little brother David ; see her in her own 
house, near at hand in the village, and almost as often 
moving in and out through the inner apartments of her 
father's house, preparing the meals, spinning with the dis- 
taff, making ready the robes of the numerous family, des- 



I2 SECOND SUNDAY. 

patching a servant, or herself bringing on her shoulder 
a skin or an earthen jar of water from the good well of 
the city, and with lively decision and energy, making the 
whole family feel her force ; and you see some such per- 
son as David had in mind when he thought ofAsahel's 
death, and Joab's bloody revenge, and their mother toge- 
ther, and said : " I am this day weak, though anointed 
king ; and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, be too hard for 
me." 

David's other sister, Abigail, strangely enough, had taken 
as a husband an Ishmaelite.* And her son, Amasa, grew 
up to be an Ishmaelite too. For he was ready, when his 
uncle David was old, to be the rebel Absalom's captain, 
when he ought to have given better advice to that young 
man. The story looks as if Amasa and his cousin Joab 
did not get on well together. There might have been 
envy or jealousy of each other's power; for, when Joab 
slew Absalom, King David appointed Amasa captain of 
the army in Joab's place — an affront which Joab could not 
brook, and for which he miserably and treacherously slew 
his cousin. With features and habits which revealed the 
blood of the Bedouin, David must have looked in wonder 



* i Chronicles ii. 17 says Jether, an Ishmaelite ; but 2 Samuel 
xvii. 25 says Israelite. " Israelite " seems to be an error in copy- 
ing the manuscript, as there seems to be no reason for saying 
that Jether was an Israelite when all were Israelites ; but the 
fact of her marrying an Ishmaelite needed to be noted. In 2 
Samuel xvii. 25, Abigail is called the daughter of Nahash. 
There are four ways of explaining the name Nahash. 1. The com- 
mon tradition of the Rabbis that Nahash and Jesse are the same 
person. 2. That Nahash may be the name of the wife of Jesse. 
There is nothing to prevent the use of the name by either sex. 
3. That Tesse may have had two wives, one of whom was the 
mother of Abigail, or of Zeruiah and Abigail. 4. That Jesse 
married the widow of a Nahash of Amnion, and that she 
brought with her the two sisters, the oldest members of the 
family. 



BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF DA VID. ^ 

and in sorrow at conflicts of interest and of feeiing be- 
tween Amasa and his three cousins, between whom it is 
natural to suppose the warm-hearted and boyish uncle 
sometimes to have been peace-maker. 

Eliab and Abinadab and Shammah, the three oldest 
brothers, were so much older, and so much more impos- 
ing in appearance than David, that David, as he became 
a lad, was kept under by them. This is fairly implied in 
the allusion to the stature and countenance of Eliab, in 
the fact that David was not called in at all when Samuel 
asked for the sons of Jesse, and in the fact that Eliab — 
and Abinadab and Shammah say nothing against it — de- 
spised and upbraided David the stripling in the army. Jo- 
sephus says that Eliab was a " a tall and handsome man," 
and that the others " were in no way inferior to the eldest 
in their countenances," which shows what was the tradi- 
tion in Josephus's time. It was after David was anointed 
by Samuel in the presence of Jesse's family, that these 
three brothers went to the army of Saul. It could not 
have been long afterwards. There may have mingled in 
their minds a remembrance that they were set aside, that 
David was anointed by the prophet — the envy of his bro- 
thers against Joseph re-enacted — when the indignant 
Eliab taunted the stripling for coming to the army at all, 
much less to fight the giant of Gath. He was not satisfied 
to say, " Why earnest thou down hither, and with whom 
hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness ?" but he 
must impeach his motives : "I know thy pride and the 
naughtiness of thine heart, for thou hast come down that 
thou mayest see the battle " — a little speech which lets in 
a beam of light upon his character. The suspicion of 
haughtiness and of a bad heart arose out of the existence 
of the same bad things in himself. Brothers, too, who 
would stand by and not defend a younger brother who 
was moved by a lively and innocent curiosity to see a bat- 



14 



SECOND SUNDA Y. 



tie, and by a patriotic courage to fight, when themselves 
and all the army were sore afraid, must have shared the 
same invidious spirit. And in the camp in the valley of 
Elah, we have a mirror, no doubt, of like relations in the 
home at Bethlehem, whenever the smooth waters of that 
tranquil life were ruffled by any excitement of feeling. 
Yet Shammah must have been a man of some power and 
courage, otherwise he would not have borne a son Jona- 
than, who afterwards slew a giant of Gath when he defied 
the armies of Israel.* It may have been in admiration of 
this deed, or in admiration of some generous qualities, that 
David named his first son born in Jerusalem Shammah, f 
which seems to be the same name. Nor unless Sham- 
mah was a man of some sagacity would he have had a son 
Jonadab, with a wise and subtle mind, which, however, he 
might have turned to a better use than he did. J Eliab 
seems, too, to have become the prince of his tribe while 
David was king. 

We know nothing of the other sons of Jesse but their 
names, and of one of them we do not know even the name. 
We are distinctly told that there were eight sons, although 
the genealogical table enumerates only seven. We will 
try in vain to obtain special features for Nathanael and 
Raddai and Ozam and the nameless one ; but it is some- 
thing to think of them as the playmates of David himself 
in his childhood, leading the little child as he first walked, 
trying his skill as he first syllabled his words, singing him 
a strain or filling the notes of a rustic pipe, as they watched 
the quickness of his musical ear and heard the quick imi- 
tation of his voice; carrying him off to the houses of their 
sisters and nephews, or bringing him in his misfortunes 
and mischief to his mother or to the resolute Zeruiah, who 
chided or comforted him as he needed. 



* 2 Samuel xxi. 21, 22. 

f Shimea and Shimeah are other forms of the two names in 2 
Samuel xiii. 3 and I Chronicles iii. 5. 
X 2. Samuel xiii. 3, 32, 33. 



fffjirlr Swnban. 



THE TRIBE OF JUDAH. 



LESSON. 

Joshua xv., xviii. n, 15-19 ; Psalm lxxviii. 60-69 ; I. Samuel xxii. 3, 4. 

WE need now to know something of the tribe of which 
Jesse's family was a member, We must know some- 
thing more carefully of the territory of Judah : we must 
know something of its social and political position in the 
nation, in order to be prepared for David's kingly career. 
For the tribe from the beginning was the largest and most 
powerful of all ; and foretokened the strong kingdom 
which would one day, with a single other tribe, perpetuate 
the succession of David, when the other ten were shattered 
by conspiracies and usurpations. 

The northern line of the territory of Judah, which sepa- 
rated the tribe from the territory of Benjamin and of Dan, 
can be pretty distinctly traced from the descriptions of 
Joshua. Most of the ancient towns noted in that survey 
are now sufficiently identified to show the probable line. 
From the mouth of the Jordan* it ran through or touched 
the valley of Achor, where Achan was stoned, and which 
was not far from Jericho ; then up the steep, twisted hills, 
no doubt by the road of all centuries between Jericho and 
Jerusalem, to En-Shemesh, "the traveler's first halting- 
place" from Jebus down ; then over the Mount of Olives 
down to En-rogel, at the junction of the two valleys, in 
the fork of which Jebus sits mounted on her tin-one ; then 



* Compare Joshua xv. 5-11 with xviii. 15-19. The line is 
twice described — once from east to west, as the northern line of 
Judah, and once from west to east, as the southern line of Ben- 
jamin, part of which became afterwards the southern line of Dan. 

(15) 



i6 



THIRD SUNDA Y. 



winding with the ravine of Hinnom northward around and 
beneath the precipices of the city ; then climbing the north- 
west hills two 
and a half miles 
to the waters 
of Nephtoah ; 
then over the 
ridge between 
two ravines 
and up to Kir- 
j a t h-j e a r i m ; 
then following 




the side-ridge or the valley of a twig-ravine, a bough-ravine, 
a branch-ravine, where it takes Beth-Shemesh and Timnah 
in course, and a trunk-ravine leading to the sea, where 
are Ekron, and Jabneel on the east and west of the main 
torrent at its " goings out." 

The southern line of the tribe ran from the southern 
end of " the Salt Sea," by a grand sweep southward, to 
Kadesh-barnea, and then westward or north-westward 
through desert and wilderness to " the great sea," at " the 
river of Egypt," far down below Gaza.* 



* It is possible that " the river of Egypt " was the east branch 
of the Nile. 



THE TRIBE OF JUDAH. Y j 

Within this little territory — about forty-five by fifty miles 
in average length and breadth — about the size of the State 
of Rhode Island — Joshua gave to the tribe one hundred 
and fifteen " cities with the villages," and separated them 
into four divisions. Think of one hundred and fifteen 
cities with their villages in the State of Rhode Island or 
of Delaware,* and you obtain some conception of the 
population in that early time. Three centuries of peace 
and war in the times of the Judges, in which neither Ca- 
naanite nor Israelite had remained sovereign master, and 
during which fortified towns must have been built up by 
one as fast as they were pulled down by the other, had not 
essentially changed the number and position of the towns 
down to David's time. The abundant ruins on every hill- 
side to-day, show that at once there was a dense popula- 
tion there. The four divisions show what was the face 
of the country. 

"The south" — for they had "the south" and "the 
north " as well as we — was the undulating pasture country 
which lay between the central hills and the w r astes of gravel, 
sand and rock which lapsed away into the southern wilder- 
ness. Beer-sheba, some forty-five miles south of Bethle- 
hem, with its wells and stone w T ater-troughs and flocks of 
camels, sheep and goats, surrounded by gentle hills, clothed 
with grass in the rainy season, without a precipice or a 
tree in sight, where Samuel the Seer's sons had lately been 
judges when David was born — and Ziklag, where David 
afterwards lived more than a year, are the best-known to 
us of the thirty-eight "cities and their villages" in that 
region. And these two cities, with fifteen others from 
"the south," were classed together by the surveyorsf of 



* Colton's Atlas gives us in all, sixty towns in Rhode Island 
and sixty-five in Delaware, 
f Joshua xviii. 4-6, 9. 



X 8 THIRD SUNDAY. 

Joshua as one of the seven shares into which they divided 
the land, after Judah and Joseph had received their portion. 
This one share taken from Judah's territory was drawn as 
the second lot by the tribe of Simeon. The area of Ju- 
dah then became about one-fourth less than at first, some- 
thing in size like Rhode Island with its important bay and 
islands taken away. 

" The lowland," * which had forty-two towns with their 
villages, was " the garden and granary of the tribe," but a 
garden and a granary of which they never obtained a full 
possession. For this was the Philistine plain, with its 
fringe of sand along the sea-shore, midway in which was 
Askalon perched on the rocks, and its fifty-mile plain, 
always thick with fields of grain in the season — as it now 
is — and stretching from the sea right up to the hills and 
mountains. If they are Hebrew, the very names of the 
towns seem to show the nature of the country ; for Zorea 
is wasps, En-gannim is springs of gardens, Tappuah is 
apple- (region), Enam is two-fountains, Socoh is boughs, 
Gederah and Gederathaim are sheep-folds, Terran, a place 
of flocks, and Dilcon, cucumbers. Three only of the five 
chief cities which we meet with in the history of the king- 
dom are mentioned here — Gaza, Ashdod, and Ekron. 
These, with Askalon and Gath, from six to twelve or four- 
teen miles apart along the plain, each on a swell or hill of 
land, were surrounded with suburbs, and stood among 
stocks of grain, groves of olives, f figs, and cypresses, and 
vineyards and orchards and palm-trees and sycamores,! 
with murmuring bees and cooing doves, and were then 
even more than they are now " remarkable for the beauty 
and profusion of the gardens, which surround them, the 
scarlet blossoms of the pomegranates, the enormous 



* Joshua xv. 33. " Valley." In Hebrew " low country." 
f See Judges xv. 5. \ 1 Chronicles xxvii. 28, 29. 



THE TRIBE OF JUDAH. T q 

oranges which gild the green foliage of their famous 
groves." Then even more than now, so dense was the 
unbroken stretch of waving crops that the inland cities on 
their gentle heights, with their green gardens and orchards 
around them, seemed from the hills above like islands in 
the undulating sea. These rich harvests and this rich soil 
are the secret of the stout resistance of the Philistines to 
the Judeans. From these rich plains, the Philistines ran 
up the ravines to the mountains above in their raids upon 
the Hebrews. Gaza, too, was a commercial city, also one 
of the great towns on the road from Damascus to the Nile. 
" Grains and fruits of every kind and of the finest quality 
supply the bazaars. Those traveling towards Egypt natu- 
rally lay in here a stock of provisions and necessaries for 
the desert ; while those coming from Egypt arrive at Gaza 
exhausted, and must, of course, supply themselves again." 
Here, too, from Abraham downwards, came the princes 
of men and kings of the earth — as centuries later, in the 
days of Jeremiah, a Pharaoh came against " Gaza the 
strong," and, centuries later still, the mad Cambyses, the 
Persian, is said to have left his treasures here on his way 
to Egypt. 

"The mountains," with their thirty-eight cities, were a 
region rough and ragged — the largest of the four entirely 
natural divisions of Joshua. Below Hebron, the range 
mounts at once into high air, and it keeps its long, undu- 
lating, notched level to the very bounds of Jebus and of 
Benjamin. Swelling hills and hollows, then covered with 
forests, with abundant turf and sward and plants, made its 
lofty heights attractive, while its fastnesses were immov- 
able walls against an enemy. Torrents pour down the 
thousand ravines to enrich the dead and the living seas, and 
as the thunder-storm bursts along the mountain plateau ; 
and pebbles and limestone chips lie in these dry beds, 
when the summer sun beats down their torrid sides. The 



THIRD SUN DA V. 



two important cities in the mountains are evidently Heb- 
ron and Bethlehem, as their long antiquity indicates. It 
is curious that the name of Bethlehem or Ephratah is 




not mentioned at all among these cities. But in the 
Greek Sepruagint translation it is metinoned, and with 
ten other towns inserted after the fifty-ninth verse 
of our English catalogue. These eleven names may 
have escaped the attention of some Hebrew copyist, 
and if they are inserted the whole number is forty-nine. 
At any rate, we know that Bethlehem was there long 
before. Hardly a hill in all this region but that has 
some fragments of stone buildings. These loose-lying 
stones on every hill-top we must restore into a town or 
city or village, and people with the stir of Jewish forms 
and features, if we would see the hill-country of Judah in 
David's boyhood. 

" The wilderness " must have occupied the only space 
left in the tribe — the sunken strip along the Salt Sea, and 
the headlong slope of cliffs between the sea and " the 
mountains." These tumultuous bare limestone rocks burn 
beneath an unclouded sun for seven or eight months in 



THE TRIBE OF JUDAH. 2 l 

each year. They open around the southern end of the 
sea into a little plain. Here and there fountains turn the 
universal stillness and solitude into luxuriant and rustling 
vegetation. Frogs croak amid the cranes and reeds of 
two or three brackish marshes along the northern half of 
this sea-coast — one of the most copious marsh-fountains 
being not far from the mouth of the Kidron ravine. Here, 
in this region, were six cities,* most or all of them in a 
climate and among plants quite like those of Sinai and 
"the great and terrible wilderness." The only one of 
them which we shall meet is Engedi, halfway down the 
length of this sea-ledge, where the wild shore-road from 
Edom and Moab and the great wilderness heads westward 
up a zigzag path through a steep, terrific pass of smooth 
limestone rock.j- Far above the city, among the rocks, 
the gazelle, the jackal, the wild-goat, and multitudes of 
pigeons^ may be seen, themselves far below the hills of 
Judah. High up the zigzag, so steep that, as you look 
from Engedi, it seems impossible to climb, you reach a 
point that is on a level with the great sea at Askalon ; and 
down from the shelf on which the town is, you go four 
hundred feet before you reach the green waters of the 
Dead Sea. Desert shrubs are among the rocks above ; 
but a beautiful sweet fountain at Engedi rippling down 
the rocks quickens a little plain nearly half a mile wide, 
at the foot, into tropical luxuriance. The sides of the de- 



* " Beth-arabah," one of the six cities (xv. 61), was near the 
northern end of the Sea (see verses 5, 6), and " the City of Salt " 
will naturally be located in the salt region around the south end 
of the S.ea. 

f " My companion had crossed the heights of Lebanon and 
the mountains of Persia ; and I had formerly traversed the 
whole of the Swiss Alps; yet neither of us had ever met a pass 
so difficult and dangerous" — Robinson i. 503. 

% Robinson i. 500. There can be no question that the scene 
was substantial!)' the same in David's time. 



22 THIRD SUNDA Y. 

scent were no doubt in David's time terraced for tillage 
and gardens — a fresh oasis, fountain-formed, in the wilder- 
ness of the salt sea. There is nothing pestiferous in the 
climate, except that its Egyptian heat in the summer 
breeds from the marshes intermittent fevers. The shores 
and this cliff at Engedi have been inhabited from time 
immemorial. Far across from these rocks to the south- 
east — see the birds flying over the lake as you look across 
— over yonder opposite shore, the eye goes up a straight 
gorge which opens into the long wall of Moab. That is 
Kir-Moab, on a high, perpendicular rock, near the summit 
of the mountains ; from which region comes that sweet 
and faithful woman Ruth, and to which region David will 
one day bear his parents beyond the reach of Saul, while 
he himself is a fugitive and an outlaw all through this wil- 
derness. 

And this takes us to the social and political position of 
the family and the tribe. 



ffiwrtjj Smtlrag. 



THE FAMILY AND THE TRIBE. 



LESSON. 

Ruth i. 1-6 ; ii. i ; iv. 17-22 ; Numbers xxii. 1-6 :xxi. 13 ; Deuteronomy xxiii. 
3-6 ; 1 Samuel xi. 1-11 ; Numbers xxvi. 22, 37 .; Psalm Ix. 8 ; cviii. 9 ; Mat- 
thew i. 5 ; Numbers i. 7 ; ii. 3 ; x. 14 ; 1 Chronicles ii. 10-12, 51. 

OFTEN had David already heard the story of Ruth, the 
mother of his grandfather ; of the famine of Moab, of 
Boaz and his barley-harvest. But it is not till the mind 
of the child quickens into the more thoughtful youth that 
this family history expands into a tribal and national sig- 
nificance. Many times as those bright eyes watch the 
changing blue and purple of yonder mountain-range, or as 
his mind dilates at the glory of the sunrise over that east- 
ward-reaching table-land, does he revolve the particulars 
which his eager questions have drawn forth at home. 
Many times does he point out to himself the road to En- 
gedi or the road to Hebron — whichever it was — as the 
path on which Elimelech and Naomi and their sons went 
southward around the Dead Sea. Many times did Abi- 
shai and Joab and himself discuss the battles of Moses 
straight across in Bashan. Often did they glory over the 
fear of Moab, who were afraid the multitudes of Moses 
" would eat up the land, as an ox eateth up the grass of 
the field," and over the left-handed dagger-stroke of Ehud, 
which sent the tyrant Ammonite and Moabite home again 
kingless. Little by little it all became clear that Am- 
monites and Moabites, the children of Lot and of Lot's 

f23) 



24 FO UR TH SUN DA Y. 

daughters, were not to be received into the nation of 
Israel, and that God had separated the children of Lot 
and the children of Abraham by this deep chasm and 
cauldron, the vapors and clouds from which now some- 
times concealed one from the other, as at first the smoke 
of Sodom and Gomorrah separated Abraham at Mamie 
from Lot at Zoar. Strange enough, the northern bound- 
ary now of Moab — the river Anion — was straight across 
from the oak where Abraham sat and the place where he 
received the three angels at his tent-door. Just below 
that headlong river, between it and Kir-Moab, which from 
Engedi you may see at the head of the steep gorge, are 
the sepulchres of the Bethlehemites, Chilion and Mahlon. 
There, in a rich and undulating pasture-land, so high 
that the people look down on us at Bethlehem, and so 
fertile in meadows — like the Philistine lowlands — that the 
famine here was not felt there, Naomi, the widow, lived 
with her two sons for ten years ; there, as she looked down 
with longing eyes on the Hebron and Bethlehem hills, 
she heard that the Lord had made us again a house of 
bread ; there the faithful Hebrewess taught her Moabite 
daughters the story of the growing wickedness of the chil- 
dren of Lot, and the promise of God's blessing on Abra- 
ham's faithful descendants ; and there the widow and her 
widow-daughters came to yonder mountain-town, and were 
ready to leave Kir-Moab for the ravine-path down and 
homeward, when Orpah kissed Naomi, and Ruth forsook 
her gods for the God of Jacob. Such, we suppose, was 
the general form of the events to young David, whose 
heart swelled with indignation or affection, as he thought 
of the crimes of Moab or the sweet virtues of his lovely 
ancestor. 

Which sentiment was then prevailing — anger or affec- 
tion — toward those kindred highlanders across the chasm ? 
The question is easily answered. We have supposed that 



THE FAMILY AND THE TRIBE. 2 $ 

when David was a boy — at sometime from his infancy to 
his youth — Saul was anointed king. We suppose it true 
also that the names Amnion and Moab are used inter- 
changeably for one people — the two being closely allied 
by blood and interest. Now, it was just after the anoint- 
ing that King Nahash of Amnion resolved to put out the 
right eyes of the people of Jabesh-Gilead as an insult to 
the whole nation of Israel ; and it was in a lofty indigna- 
tion at the indignity put on his relatives— for the Benja- 
mites, from whom Saul came, and the Jabesh-Gileadites, 
we must remember, had married to preserve the tribe of 
Benjamin* — that the young king had sent his slaughtered 
oxen from Gibeah throughout the land, and mustered 
thirty thousand men from Judah, and nine times as many 
from the rest of the tribes, and slew the Ammonites in 
mighty havoc as the sun rose next morning. From this 
time onward, in the mind of David as truly as in the 
fiercer Joab's mind, we may assume a settled hostility to 
the land of Ruth's ancestors. From that day of his boy- 
hood, when King Saul's slaughtered oxen, brought by 
panting messengers to the city gate, summoned Eliab and 
Aminadab to the bloody defence on the other side Jordan, 
we may see that righteous contempt in which David after- 
wards wrote, " Moab is my wash-pot." 

This battle, at which Judah furnished one-tenth of all the 
army of Saul, from which the oldest sons of Jesse must 
have brought back the admiring account of the new king's 
exploits, takes us now to the relation of Judah to the other 
tribes. 

The twelve tribes were equal States united in a govern- 
ment which was at first representative or republican in 
character, with God for a national King, and a high-priest 
or a judge extraordinary as his prime-minister. From 



* Judges xxi. 6-10, and 14, 15. 



2 6 FOURTH SUNDAY. 

the oracles of the sanctuary, the prime-minister brought 
the King's directions to the people of the United States of 
Israel. This was the theocratic government. Judah was at 
the beginning the first and foremost of the twelve States. 
Fifty thousand warriors was then about the average 
strength of a State, for there were six hundred thousand 
when they entered the land. But Judah had seventy-six 
thousand, and only three other tribes, stretching to the 
north, Issachar, Zebulun, and Asher, had more than the 
average. Simeon was at that time weakest of all, and its 
divinely-drawn lot sheltered it under the wing of Judah. 
Entering the land, therefore, at the head of the army — the 
army itself conquering first the southern part of the land ; 
assigned its portion before the others ; divinely appointed 
after Joshua's death to go first against the Canaanites ; and 
inheriting so large and so valuable a territory, Judah was 
already mighty and independent. Its dense population, 
descended from over a quarter of a million people at the 
conquest,* swarmed from towns on every eminence. Its 
counsels were mighty in the assemblies of the nation. Its 
warriors were intrepid — who swept the mountains at once < 
clear of foes — a fit people to knock their power against 
the Philistine cities and the rocky Jebus of the Benja- 
mites. 

One tribe — small at first, only the eleventh in warriors 
at the entrance — proved the strong rival of Judah. This 
was the energetic and sensitive tribe of Ephraim, whose 
sharp " Why went ye without us ? " Gideon and Jephthah 
had felt, and who in later generations envied Judah as 
Judah vexed her. Two things helped to make Ephraim 
conspicuous ; Joshua was of that tribe, and the tabernacle 
was confided to the protection of her city, Shiloh. The 



* If we reckon only three to every warrior, we have 22S,ooo 
at the conquest. The population of Rhode Island in 1S70 was 
217,000, and of Delaware 125,000. 



THE FAMILY AND THE TRIBE. 27 

jealousy of Ephraim will be seen in the refusal of the 
tribe to submit to David after Saul's death ; in " giving 
aid and comfort " to Absalom against his father ; in sus- 
taining the revolt of Jeroboam, who was of that tribe ; 
and in the remarkable fact that, after the kingdom was 
rent in two, every king of the house of Israel came from 
the tribe of Ephraim. " With the single exception of 
Saul, all the Hebrew kings were natives of one or the other 
of the«e two rival tribes." 

But just now, in David's boyhood, in the relations of 
these two leading tribes, that transition had begun to take 
place of which Asaph sung in his psalm of lament : 

" So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, 
The tent which he placed among men. 
Moreover, he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, 
And chose not the tribe of Ephraim, 
But chose the tribe of Judah, 
The Mount Zion which he loved.''* 

With Manasseh — own brother — next itself on the north, 
Ephraim was doubly strong ; and, owing to the genealogical 
and clannish way of thinking among the Hebrews, Ben- 
jamin, which lay between Ephraim and Judah, and was 
descended from their own mother, Rachel, would follow 
the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, rather than the 
descendants of the son of Leah. 

Without further anticipating the political history which 
we are pursuing, let us turn back now to the family of 
Bethlehem, and gather some idea of its position in the 
tribe. 

The ancestral family of Jesse, if not Jesse's own house- 
hold, must have been known beyond the walls of their own 
city. The wealth of Boaz and his power in the town were 



• Psalm lxxviii. 60, 67, 63 



2 8 FO UR TH S UNDA Y. 

not shown simply in the express statement of the fact. 
His fields, his reapers, his observation of Ruth and knowl- 
edge of her previous character, his generosity, his hos- 
pitality, his resolution to marry the stranger, his influence 
at the gate, his ready purchase of Elimelech's estate, the 
gathering of " all the people " with the elders at the gate, 
their good wishes for his prosperity — all these things ex- 
hibit an influence which must have been associated with 
Bethlehem itself. That Boaz should have been wilfcng to 
marry a wife of the forbidden Moabites may be explained 
by two reasons : first, that he was himself a descendant of 
a Canaanite woman, for his mother was none other than 
the famous Rahab of Jericho, whom his father Salmon 
married ; and secondly, that Ruth, like his own mother, 
was a voluntary convert to the Hebrew faith, sincere, 
earnest, and profound in her entire devotion to the true 
God. Salmon, it has been conjectured, was one of the 
spies who visited Jericho. 

We must notice, here, that the grandfather of Boaz was 
a man of power not only in the tribe, but in the nation. 
This was Nahshon, whose sister was married to Aaron, the 
high-priest, who was prince of the tribe of Judah, one of 
the twelve from the tribes, the renowned of the congrega- 
tion, and who was the captain of the host of Judah through 
the wilderness. He was, therefore, the first man of the 
first tribe, so far as honor and station in civil life are con- 
cerned ; and, aside from the priestly and Levitical offices, 
next Moses and Aaron, ranking with Caleb and Joshua. 
Salmon, the son of Nahshon, was also a leader on the 
circuits about Jericho and the upward march ; for he be- 
came the founder or the father of Bethlehem,* and he 



* In i Chronicles ii. 50, 57, " Salma the father of Bethlehem" 
is called the son of Caleb. " It arises from the circumstance 
that Bethlehem-Ephratah, which was Salmon's inheritance, was 



THE TAMIL Y AND THE TRIBE. 2 Q 

may have honored God's approval of Rahab by taking her 
at once before all Israel to an honorable station in his 
own house. Little did he think that he was establishing 
the royal house of the nation, and both the lineage and 
the birth-place of the Messiah. 

An ancient Jewish tradition says that Jesse was a weaver 
of the veils of the sanctuary. It is certain that Bezaleel, 
the embroiderer of blue and purple and scarlet and fine 
linen, was one of his ancestors. And in the East a trade 
is transmitted from generation to generation. We lift up 
our eyes to see Shammah and Nethaneel busy with the 
ass's load of fleeces from the valley, where Eliab and Rad- 
dai are at the shearing, and where young David and his 
growing nephews make merry with catching the sheep. 
We look again for the spindle and the distaff in Zeruiah's 
and Abigail's hands, the web and the weaver's beam as the 
pious father prepares the refined wool for the sanctuary 
service, or, as the mother mixes the dye,* and David again 
finishing for himself the finger-holes of a rustic pipe. It 
matters little that it was or was not precisely so. The 
spirit of piety was in the house, and the occupation was 
something similar. And, at any rate, the family was a 
most honorable one in the thousands of Judah, and, it is 
altogether likely, had even then a national reputation. 



part of the territory of Caleb, the grandson of Ephratah, and 

this caused him to be reckoned among the sons of Caleb." — 

Hervey. 

, * Bethlehem was famous for dye-ing. 



Jfiftlj Sunbai|. 



RELIGION AND EDUCATION IN BETHLEHEM. 



LESSON. 

Deuteronomy xii. 4-7, 13, 14, and 18, xiii. 6-15 ; 1 Chronicles xiii. 3 ; 1 Samuel 
vii. 2-17, x. 8, xi. 14, 15, xx. 6, xxi, 1, 6 ; Proverbs i. 8, 9, iv. 3-10 ; 1 Kings ii. 
3, 4 ; 1 Chronicles xxviii. 9 ; 1 Samuel ix. 9. 

THERE must have been perplexity and sorrow in Jesse's 
family when they thought of taking their young chil- 
dren to the house of God. Where could they go, with 
bullocks and an ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, as 
Elkanah and Hannah did, to offer their child unto the 
Lord ? As every year brought the feasts of Tabernacles, 
and of Passover and of Pentecost, where should the cele- 
bration be ? As child after child grew, how could he be 
clearly taught to love the public worship of the God of his 
fathers ? There must have been embarrassment and pain 
in every pious family. 

On the one hand, the command of the law was clear. 
The only place at which sacrifice was to be offered was to 
be a place chosen of God. Gifts devoted to God and 
chosen vows, as well as burnt offerings and tithes, were to 
be made only there. Children were to be taught that that 
was the only place consecrated to the public worship of 
God. The command was explicit that children were not to 
be taken to other places to worship. And any city that 
should worship at other altars was doomed to destruction. 

On the other hand, all the arrangements for the public 
worship had been broken up. The ark was in one place 
(30) 



RELIGION AND ED UCA TION IN BE THLEHEM. 3 1 

— perhaps at Kirjath-jearim, about six miles north-west of 
Jebus. The tabernacle was in another place — later it 
was at Nob, which was probably about six miles north-north- 
west of Jebus. Altars had been erected in this place and 
in that, and sacrifices had been offered here and there in 
the land. There had been a wide corruption of the people 
in idolatry, from which many sincere, true-hearted Israel- 
ites kept themselves". Yet God gave his approval to spe- 
cial sacrifices and special places. Samuel the Seer had 
offered — it must have been in David's childhood — burnt 
offerings in Gilgal, when, by the direction of God,- he 
anointed the son of Kish King of Israel. And he had be- 
fore sacrificed at Mizpeh, when the Lord thundered on the 
Philistines, and in another city of Benjamin, which now is 
lost to us, on " a high place." And at home at Ramah he 
had an altar. Pious families, no doubt, therefore, did what 
Jesse and his house did. They established a family sacri- 
fice, as in the patriarchal times. They called a priest ; or 
the father prayed as Job did, offering burnt offerings for 
the children, and saying : " It may be that my sons have 
sinned and cursed God in their hearts ;" or the oldest son 
was priest by birth-right, as in patriarchal times.* And 
once a year a most solemn offering was made for the whole 
assembled family, for an atonement for their sins. We 
have good reason to believe that Jesse was such a pious 
man. The special honor given in the Scriptures to Nah- 
shon and to Boaz, and the prediction of Isaiah that the 
Messiah should grow not out of the stem and the root of 
David, but of Jesse, show that it was a family true to the 
God of Israel. The example of such a man as Jesse would 
affect all Bethlehem, especially as acts of sacrifice must, 
in the nature of the case, be public. 

And these were the vivid object-lessons which impressed 



* Numbers viii. 18. 



32 FIFTH SUNDA Y. 

on David's youthful mind the spirit of piety — the altar and 
the ascending flame in the open air, the running blood of 
the slaughtered sheep or ox, the gifts and tithes to priests 
or Levites who made the offering. Here he was taught 
what the wickedness of idolatry was, and what was the 
right heart which served God sincerely. The wickedness 
of Eli's sons, the destruction of Eli's priestly family, the 
voice calling at Shiloh to the child Samuel, the purity and 
power of the seer in the land — these, we may be sure, 
were used as illustrations of the good and the evil to David 
as -a mere child. 

His education of course was rude, fragmentary, and 
mainly religious. But as King David's "recorder" and 
" scribe" are ranked with the captains of his army and with 
the high-priest in the enumeration of his chief officers, and 
as he became a composer of psalms, and held in his hands 
the reckonings and administration of his kingly power, 
we must suppose that he was as a child, quick to gain 
the simple rudiments of reading, writing and reckoning. 
We may be sure Jesse taught David the substance of 
what David taught Solomon when he said : " Wisdom 
is the principal thing ; therefore get wisdom : and with 
all thy getting get understanding." In the house where 
such persons as Naomi, and Boaz, and Ruth had lived, how 
often did lips of grace from the benignant face of the aged, 
say to the children and grandchildren : " My son, to hear 
the instruction of your father, and to keep your mother's 
law, will be ornaments of grace to your head, and chains 
about your neck." And the model for a daughter in 
Jesse's house was not unlike that fair woman of King Lem- 
uel, in Solomon's time — seeking wool and flax, laying 
her hands to the spindle and to the distaff, opening her 
mouth in wisdom, and in her tongue the law of kindness 
— the description of whose character applies to no woman 
of the Scriptures better than to Ruth, the mother of Obed. 



RELIGION A ND ED UCA TION IN BE THLEHEM. 3 3 

Of religious instruction in the time of David's youth, we 
may judge from three things : First, the general instruc- 
tions of the law of Moses ; second, two or three state- 
ments in respect to the general period of Jesse and David ; 
and thirdly, from David's own instructions to his son Solo- 
mon. 

I. Fast and festival, sacrifices and offerings, rites and 
ceremonies — and the answer to the ever-repeated question 
of childhood, " What mean ye by this service ? " — these 
were the outward part of education in Moses' law. The 
statutes and judgments, the commandments and the testi- 
monies — righteous and holy, as a law glorious, and fearful 
in their historic and miraculous authority — which made 
their great nation a wise and understanding people in the 
sight of all the nomadic nations of their day, and even of 
Egypt herself — these were the inward and essential part 
of Moses' law, illustrated by the patriarchal history, and 
the escape from Egypt, Sinai, the Wilderness, the Con- 
quest, and the Deliverers of the last three centuries. 
These the pious parents • taught diligently to the children, 
talking of them as they reclined in the house or walked by 
the way, at evening and at morning, in work-hours and 
rest-hours, as if they were visibly bound on their hand to 
arrest their own attention, and between their eyes, to 
catch their children's notice, and written on the door-posts 
of Jesse's house, and gates of Bethlehem. The Levites, 
too, taught in every city with a diligence measured by their 
individual piety. Family history and local incidents and 
tribal exploits, as we have seen already, would give em- 
phasis to this instruction. 

II. Three things modified the power of these instruc- 
tions in David's early life. The first was that the taber- 
nacle service at Shiloh had been broken up when the 
ark was captured by the Philistines. The ark was brought 
back by Beth-shemesh, and to Kirjath-jearim, and a priest 



34 FIFTH SUNDA Y. 

was consecrated to the special care of it there ; but we 
have no notice of a reunion of the ark and the tabernacle 
till long afterwards. " All the house of Israel lamented 
after the Lord " during the twenty years when the ark was 
at Kirjath-jearim, separated from the tabernacle. If this 
twenty years expired before David's birth, still there was 
no fixed central place of national worship. If the lament 
of the people was simply for the outward ceremonial wor- 
ship the truly pious felt it the more deeply. And as long 
as this was so, family instruction everywhere felt the loss of 
this powerful public support. The second thing was that 
the ark itself was not publicly inquired at in the days of 
Saul, that is, while David was growing to manhood. The 
fact shows that the priests and Levites, who were the edu- 
cating life of the nation, were lax and negligent in their 
duties. The third thing was the extraordinary influence of 
the Seer. The renovating effect of Samuel's early life had 
been intensified at his first public appearance at Mizpeh. 
From the time of that open divine approval — as significant 
as the night vision of his childhood — Samuel was ac- 
cepted as Judge and Deliverer of the nation. His piety 
is marked ; his wisdom is undoubted ; his speech is 
weighty ; his decisions equitable and prompt ; his form 
and features venerable and impressive ; his spiritual in- 
sight and communion with divine purposes, past and 
future, make him everywhere known as " The Seer I" 

There are four places where he holds his court on the 
days appointed in regular circuit : Bethel, twelve miles 
north of Jebus, where the ark was in the days of the war 
against Benjamin ; Gilgal, between Jericho and the Jordan, 
where was the heap of twelve stones taken from the Jor- 
dan when Joshua entered the land, and where the manna 
ceased after they had eaten of the old corn of the land ; 
Mizpeh, where the burnt-offering was answered by thunder, 
and where the son of Kish had been anointed king ; and 



RELIGION AND ED UCA TION IN BE THLEHEM. 3 5 

Ramah, his own home, somewhere in Mount Ephraim, 
where was his house and his altar. "A man of God," 
honorable in the eyes of all, his character revered, his 
presence welcomed at the sacrifice, his blessing sought, a 
Levite, accepted by God as if he were a very priest, a 
truth-speaker to the face, honest from his childhood, as he 
goes from place to place, he is growing great in venerable 
power and dignity before all the nation. 

This " Seer," whose rebukes the land feared, whose 
directions the nation prized, David the lad no doubt had 
seen when he had happened with his father at Mizpeh on 
a court-day, or when the flowing locks and flowing robes 
of the Nazarite had moved down the street of Bethlehem, 
or passed along yonder ridge-path, where David kept the 
sheep on the mountain-side. His circuit as a judge was 
not large, but the power of his character pulsated to the 
remotest corner of the kingdom, and elevated the spiritual 
education of every child of every tribe. 

III. The instruction of David to Solomon in respect to 
the law of Moses confirms the impressions of Jesse's in- 
structions to David himself in these single matters of 
religion, and they show how the Israelites understood the 
spiritual meaning of the Mosaic system in those early 
days. H Keep his statutes and his commandments," said 
King David to King Solomon, " and his judgments, and 
his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses ; that 
the Lord may continue his word which he spake concern- 
ing me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to 
walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all 
their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the 
throne of Israel." " Know thou, Solomon my son, the 
God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and 
with a willing mind : for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and 
understandeth all the imaginatiofis of the thoughts : if thou 
seek him, he will be found of thee \ but if thou forsake 



36 FIFTH SUNDA Y. 

him, he will cast thee off for ever." These spiritual in- 
structions to his own son, in his old age, so in harmony 
with the psalms written from early to later life, are a pretty 
sure index of the pious spirit in Jesse's house, which was 
daily food for David as his impressible and tender soul 
expanded. Wonderful and strange and good were the 
ways of God to the opening mind of that youth who was 
afterward to be openly commended by him as " My ser- 
vant, who followed me with all his heart, and did that 
which was right in the sight of the Lord." 



Bxxih SunbaiL 



FROM THE OLD GOVERNMENT TO 
THE NEW. 



LESSON. 

Deuteronomy i. 13-17, viii. 7-10, xxxi. 24-26 ; Joshua xxiii. 11-13 ; 1 Samuel 
viii., xvii. 12. 

THE chronology of the times of Jesse, Eli, Samuel, and 
Saul is obscure. But we cannot go far astray, if we 
suppose that the difference in age between Jesse and 
Samuel was from ten to twenty years. Jesse " went for 
an old man in the days of Saul," when the Seer came to 
anoint David to be king. Vv 7 hen the persecutions of 
David followed one, two, or three years later, David took 
his parents to Moab out of harm's way. It was just at 
the end of that one, two, or three years that Samuel died, 
venerable and full of years. The supposition, therefore, 
that Samuel was from ten to twenty years older than 
Jesse will harmonize with the events of Saul's and David's 
life. 

As Saul was in his prime when David was privately 
anointed at Bethlehem — he had already been weighed as 
a king and found wanting — we assume that Saul was from 
ten to fifteen years younger than Jesse. This supposition 
is sustained by the fact that David, the tenth child of 
Jesse, took for his wife Michal, the fifth child of Saul. 
Michal we may safely assume to have been younger than 
David. If we suppose further that Michal was born 

(37) 



3 8 SIXTH SUNDA Y. 

when her father was from thirty-one to thirty-five years of 
age, we may take David to have been born from the 
twenty-ninth to the thirty-third year of Saul's life. And as 
we know that David was thirty years old at Saul's death, 
Saul must have been about sixty when he was slain. And 
if we further assume that David was from fifteen to twenty 
years old when Samuel anointed him, then Saul, in mid- 
career, was about forty-five or fifty years of age. How 
long Saul was king we do not know — a shorter time than 
David's forty years certainly ! * We think that there is 
nothing to contradict the supposition that Saul might have 
been crowned at Gilgal in David's childhood. With these 
suppositions we go on with the story. 

David is now a young man, with a mind of uncommon 
quickness and penetration — as his alertness of action 
throughout his life, his comprehension of the situation 
wherever he was placed afterwards, the vigor and variety 
and depth of his thoughts in his psalms, prove. We do 
not stop now to prove it. We shall see, as we go on, the 
evidence of character and abilities unusually attractive in 
speech and address, on his first public appearance. 

No sooner, therefore, was he well acquainted with the 
character and career of Samuel up to his own day, with 
the rising spirit in the national life which, for twenty or 
thirty years, Samuel had been exciting, and with the new 
extraordinary fact of a human king in the son of Kish, 
than his mind must have grasped eagerly and dwelt long 
on the facts and principles involved. The man whom 
God was preparing for his chosen king would not be de- 



* "And afterward they desired a king, and God gave unto them 
Saul, the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space 
of forty years." Acts xiii. 2i. This does not say that he was 
king forty )-ears. It is supposed to include the general round 
period of Samuel and of Saul's public career. 



FROM THE OLD GO VERNMENT TO THE NE W. 39 

ficient in historic penetration, or in now and then fore- 
casting whither the future would tend. 

We need, therefore, to understand the Theocracy a 
little more in detail, if we would understand the kingdom. 
That is, we need now to form in our minds such a concep- 
tion of the old government as David had at that time in 
his mind. 

It is a very remarkable fact that at that time in the 
world the Hebrew state was composed of a free people. 
Other nations — Egypt, Mesopotamia, the tribes of Canaan, 
and other nations — were ruled by kings who were absolute 
tyrants in power. "All other ancient oriental nations," 
says John Quincy Adams, "were founded on force ; this 
only on consent." For more than three centuries, the 
Hebrews had no human king. This or that tribe warred 
against its enemies within its boundaries, or went abroad, 
but there was no king but God himself. Since Joshua's 
day, there had been long times of peace and prosperity. 
Under Othniel, the land had rest forty years; after Ehud's 
bloody slaughter of the tyrant Eglon, there were eighty 
years of peace ; forty years the country was quiet in the 
days of Gideon ; twenty-three years in Abimelech's reign ; 
twenty-two years in Jair's days ; and for twenty years 
Samson fought off the Philistines. But neither one 
of these Judges and Deliverers had perpetuated his reign 
in a succession. The people wished Gideon to be king, 
and to found a royal house, but he would not* The peo- 
ple elected Jephthah to be Deliverer, and he consented, f 
Deborah rose up in extraordinary abilities, and they yield- 
ed to her. 

And everywhere in the course of the history there is 
evidence of an unrestrained choice and action, and no 
evidence of a tyrant who succeeded in maintaining power. 



* Judges viii. 22, 23. \ Judges xi. 5, 6. 



40 SIXTH SUN DA Y. 

Abimelech, the son of Gideon, who attempted to be king, 
met with a ignominious death. His ambitious disregard 
of his father's noble example, his fratricidal -usurpation, 
his uneasy three years' reign, and his contemptuous end, 
must have been an illustrious precedent against royalty in 
the lips of all the people for nearly a century before Saul 
was born. The Lord Jehovah was the national king in 
his holy cloud. Under his healthy, restraining laws of 
liberty, the people were as free as any nation to this day 
has been — their liberty in marked contrast with the sur- 
rounding nations, who were under despots who might be 
gracious and who might be monsters. 

The people were also equals under the old government. 
The mode in which the land of a nation is held is a cer- 
tain test of the people's rights. The land of the nation 
was not. divided among a few, but among all. No king, 
no aristocracy, no privileged class owned the territory 
and towns. The tribes cast lots, the families took their 
shares in proportion, not to any rank or abilities, but sim- 
ply in proportion to numbers, and u extreme poverty and 
overgrown riches were alike impossible." Every fifty 
years, too, his own iand — no matter what were the debts 
or burdens on it — returned to each man or to his family. 
Sales and debts were made with reference to this. " The 
rich could not accumulate all the lands. The fiftieth year, 
beyond which no lease could run, was always approach- 
ing, with silent but sure tread, to relax their tenacious 
grasp." " At the return of this day, the trumpet peal was 
heard in street and field, from mountain-top and valley, 
throughout the length and breadth of the land." " The 
family mansion and the paternal estate again greeted eyes 
from which misfortune, through many a weary year, had 
divorced them." Labor, therefore, was honorable, the 
work of a citizen, and not of a slave or of a servile condi- 
tion. Justice was to be impartial, without respect of rich 



FROM THE OLD GOVERNMENT TO THE NEW. 41. 

or poor, great or small, without fear of the face of 
man. 

The nation was a representative government. They 
elected their officers. Jehovah himself was elected at the 
first to be their nation's king, before he gave his law. He 
said, " I have brought you out of the land of Egypt. If 
ye will obey my voice, and keep my covenant, ye shall be 
my kingdom and my nation." The people said, " We 
will do what the Lord has said." And God their king 
then promised to speak with his nation from a thick cloud, 
the Shekinah.* The magistrates and elders were elected. 
" Take you wise men known among your tribes," said Mo- 
ses to the people, " and I will make them rulers." They 
were to be " captains or leaders over thousands, captains 
over hundreds, captains over fifties, and captains over tens, 
and officers among your tribes." " Give out from among 
you three men for each tribe" to survey the land, said 
Joshua to the people. "When Jephthah was made judge, 
it is said, " The people made him head and captain over 
them." Elders were chosen in tribes and in cities. There 
was no select or privileged class from whom the civil offi- 
cers were taken. Clearly only some one on whom the peo- 
ple could agree might be elder at the gate in Bethlehem. 



* Read carefully Exodus xix. 3-9. Notice the steps of pro- 
gress : Moses comes down with the proposition ; he gathers the 
people in a formal assembly ; he receives their reply ; he goes 
back up the mountain ; he comes down again with the appoint- 
ment of a place from which God will speak to them. Many of 
the most eminent writers who have written on this subject — 
Jahn, Dean Graves, Lowman, Michaelis, Warburton, Bossuet, 
Dr. Lyman Beecher, Dr. Spring, Professor Wines — agree in 
considering this action. a voluntary contract or agreement be-, 
tween the people and God, by which God became the Theocratic 
King. See Professor Wines's "Commentaries on the Laws of 
the Ancient Hebrews," from which many of the suggestions of 
this lesson are taken. 



42 SIXTH SUNfA Y. 

Neither Jesse nor any son of his, illustrious as his house 
may have been, could inherit the office if the people chose 
otherwise. It seems probable that there was a general 
system of divisions and sub-divisions from the central power 
of the divine king, through tribes, cities, villages, and fami- 
lies in which officers and sub-officers were selected by the 
people for greater and smaller trusts. 

Here, therefore, in this free, equal, representative gov- 
ernment, long before the republics of Greece and Rome 
had risen — long before the republics of Switzerland and 
America, which we so often consider the ripened fruit of 
the slow-growing centuries — the Hebrews had a republic, 
secured for three centuries by a divine presiding King, 
who guided and moulded their human democracy, and 
who by his perpetual life preserved the government and 
the nation unbroken. 

Two or three other characteristics of the old govern- 
ment may be alluded to. The nation was to be peaceful 
i?i spirit. There was no standing army. There, the sturdy 
yeomanry took up their weapons at the cry for self-defence, 
or at the divine call for retribution and punishment. In- 
fantry was all that was needed for home contests ; there 
was no cavalry for foreign conquests of Egypt or Syria or 
Asia Minor, and no ships for warlike expeditions to west- 
ern lands or islands. Every conquest at home even, was 
not to be for ambition, but as a punishment, often under 
the direction of God, and depending on his power. 

The nation was to be an agricultural people. All their 
commerce was domestic. They were bound together by 
their great religious festivals, which brought together a 
vast concourse of people, and which promoted a happy in- 
tercourse and a domestic trade. But Moses wished the 
people to understand that their country was united not to 
commercial, but to agricultural pursuits. It was "a land of 
brooks of water, of fountains and of depths that spring out 
of valleys and hills ; a land of wheat and barley and vines 



FROM THE OLD GO VERNMENT TO THE NE W. 



43 



and fig-trees and pomegranates, and oil-olive and honey, 
and iron and brass ; a land of bread without scarcity." 
" By a provision in the constitution before explained, no 
Israelite could be born who did not inherit a piece of 
land from his progenitors." 

But after the varied experience of over three hundred 
years, during the general course of which the multitude 
of the evils of the surrounding sensual tribes had been 
kept from the land, the government and the nation had 
become degraded. Eli and Eli's sons had debased their 
office. The Theocratic King was wearied with the infi- 
delity of the people to their compact. And — vain, alas ! 
is the help of man — Samuel's sons had abused their trust. 
In the South, at Beersheba, for money they winked at in- 
justice. God's guidance withdrawn in the days of Eli, 
the ark had been taken, and the nation had been on the 
verge of dissolution. Samuel's sons false to their trust, 
Samuel himself, their only stay, once dead, it was easy to 
see what the end would be. The people, therefore, made 
use of their occasion, and clamored for that which they 
had long desired. They would have a king, like all the 
nations ! They put aside the Seer's remonstrances. When 
he said, u He will take your sons for his chariots and his 
horsemen, and as servants for his harvest and his army, 
and your daughters for confectioners and cooks and bak- 
ers, and your best fields and best flocks for his ; it will be 
a heavy burden," their weak vanity could see only the 
glory of the royal court and the splendor of royal renown, 
such as came borne to their ears from the world around. 
The wise Seer, displeased, was overborne. Perhaps he 
felt it to be a personal insult to his life-long work for them. 
The Theocratic King said to him, " They have not re- 
jected you, but they have rejected me that I should reign 
over them. Hearken to their voice." 

Did Jesse and his house share in the nation's vain de- 
sire ? We shall find his three sons in Saul's army. 



Sdttntlj Smxiriw, 



• THE KING. 



LESSON. 

Deuteronomy xvii. 14-20 ; 1 Samuel x. 17-27, xi. xii. 

THE stirring news which went through the land when 
David was a child, was, " The Divine Oracle has 
consented to a king ! The Seer has told the elders so, at 
Ramah ! " In every tribe and town and family the next 
thought was, " Who will be king ? From what tribe ? 
From what house ? " The Hebrews were not so much 
unlike other nations that they did not canvass the historic 
record of the tribes and of leading families, as well as the 
character and fitness of every man in any way eminent. 
The next question everywhere was, " In what way will the 
king be appointed ? " 

If now we go back to the directions of Moses on the 
heights of Moab, we shall find that he foresaw this very 
time in the nation. In the seventeenth chapter of Deuter- 
onomy we shall find inspired preparation for the kingdom ; 
and if we compare these directions with the history of the 
elevation of the son of Kish to the throne, we shall have 
reason to believe that this was the " manner of the king- 
dom " which Samuel " told the people " and " wrote in a 
book " — the transcribed constitution of the kingdom. 

Now let us see how Saul was made king in accordance 
(44) 



THE KING. 45 

with the inspired law, three and a half centuries before pro- 
• vided for a kingdom. 

The following are the characteristics of this special law 
of Moses : 

The people might at some time have a kingdom. It was 
not absolutely forbidden, if the nation should insist on 
desiring it. 

The king must be chosen both by the people and by God. 
This choice of God and the choice of the people must 
unite in the person. 

The king must be a native Hebrew and not a foreigner. 

The king must not multiply horses. He must not be a 
warrior for foreign conquest, which would be the only use 
of horses or cavalry. Horses were not used for agricul- 
ture ; cavalry was not necessary for defence, for the sea 
was west, the deserts were south and west, the Lebanon 
range was north. Their first natural communication to 
foreign parts was to Egypt, but they must not go back to 
Egypt for them. 

The king, in royal marriage, must not have many wives. 
Many queens would be likely to involve alliances with 
royal houses abroad, or with women of beauty and of note 
in surrounding nations. There would come in, in the most 
subtle and powerful forms, the customs, the religious 
habits, and the gods of those nations — as they did in 
Solomon's time. And then idolatry ', the very thing which 
the nation was organized to destroy, would be established 
at the head of the nation. 

The king must not aim at great personal wealth. If 
God should choose to give it to him, it might be well, for 
He could protect him from its evils, but he was not to aim 
at it. And if riches increased, they were not the king's, 
but the people's. 

The king must be a defender of the faith. From his 
throne throughout his dominions he must maintain reso- 



46 SE VENTH SUN DA Y. 

lutely the law of Moses against the religion of other 
nations. 

The king must consider this law to be supreme, and not 
himself supreme. Before the majesty of that law transcribed 
by the Levites from the Divine Rolls, he must consider 
the people his equals. 

If the king should observe these conditions, then the 
throne might continue in his house. If he violated these 
conditions, then the throne might be given to others. 

The time having come, therefore, when the kingdom 
was to be established, let us turn to the Seer as he 
introduces the kingdom. As Saul now appears, let us 
notice the four inferior conditions of the kingly office 
first. 

Saul was a native Hebrew, as the chronological tables 
carefully show. His grandfather, Ner, was one of ten 
brothers, and they, or Abiel, their father, the father and 
founder of Gibeah, must have had to do with the Benjam- 
ite war, when the people of Gibeah would not give up the 
murderers of the Levite's concubine.* 

Some of the family too must have married the women 
of Jabesh-gilead or of Shiloh, when the tribe was preserved 
from destruction. f It was bad blood from which to come, 
but it was purely Hebrew. 

Saul had no cavalry. During his reign we have no trace 
of numbers of horses in peace or war, although the Philis- 
tines came up with thirty thousand chariots against him. 



* Judges xix. I. See margin, a woman, a concubine, or a wife, 
a concubine. " The position of these two among the early Jews 
cannot be referred to the standard of our own age and country: 
that of concubine being less degraded, as that of wife was, 
especially owing to the sanction of polygamy, less honorable 
than among ourselves." — Hayman, in Smith's " Die. of Bible." 

See, too, verses 27-30 and xx. 13. 

f See Judges xxi. 



THE KING. 



47 



King Solomon began the introduction of horses. David in 
his war song, sang, — 

" Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, 
But we will remember the name of the Lord our God." 

Saul did not make many marriages. His children were 
seven sons and two daughters ; we have notice of only one 
wife and of one concubine, who watched the bodies of his 
children after they were executed. 

Whether Saul aimed to make the kingdom increase his 
personal wealth or not, there is little to indicate. His 
father was a " mighty man of substance." At first he was 
modest, but afterwards vanity and love of display became 
passions with him, as when he spared Agag and his spoil 
for his own personal glory. 

So far, therefore, as these four requirements of the con- 
stitution were concerned, the Seer would find in this 
goodly young man an entire outward compliance. 

Let us look now at the three higher conditions : the 
united choice of the people and of God, defence of the 
faith, and submission to the law. 

At the grand assembly of the nation at Mizpeh, one of 
the Seer's shire-towns, as we would call them,* the 
public choice was made. Saul already knew that he was 
to be king, for Samuel had already anointed him privately. 

" The Mighty King that delivered you from Egypt and 
from all kingdoms," said the venerable, grey-bearded, 
solemn Seer, " who made you warriors and deliverers in the 
Judges, you have rejected. He now grants you a kingdom. 
Both he and you to-day choose the king. Let the tribes 
appear before him in their order." This was probably after 



* Authorities debate on which one of the two heights was 
Mizpeh, the Watch-Tower, the height a mile north, or on the 
higher hill five miles north-east of Jebus. 



48 SEVENTH SUNDAY. 

solemn sacrifice. One by one they pass before the proph- 
et. Neither Judah nor Ephraim is honored that day. 
By general lot, the tribe of Benjamin — once cut almost 
off from the nation— is chosen. Family by family comes 
the little tribe, and the family of Matri is chosen. House 
by house comes the family,, and Kish is chosen. Name 
by name, as the growing excitement deepens, Kish's sons 
are brought before the Lord, and at last the name Saul 
leaps from lip to lip throughout the vast multitude. The 
young man, knowing the result, and abashed by the 
deepening curiosity of the occasion, is hid among the 
heaps of tent-cloths, saddles, and other luggage of the 
gathered nation, until the Lord points him out. Stalwart 
and tall he walks as they bring him forward, well-formed, 
and good-looking, a head and shoulders higher than the 
throng — the very figure for kingly pomp, the very strength 
for a valiant warrior. . " Live the King !" the welkin rings. 
And yet a certain bashfulness — unbecoming such a position, 
as if he could never be quite at home as the nation's 
leader — provokes distrust. Some perhaps remember the 
tribe, and Gibcah ! 

The nation assent to the Lord's choice, and yet there is 
not a free and full consent. Saul, therefore, goes home to 
Gibeah, accompanied by the fighting men. And as the 
fault-finders say, "How can this man save the nation?" 
he goes back to his father's herds. 

But soon come tidings which touch his heart to the 
quick and drive off his timidity. The wild wail as of a 
great calamity -strikes his ear, one day, as he follows his 
cattle home. The whole town is in deep distress. "What 
aileth the people?" " Nahash taunts our kindred* of Ja- 
besh-gilead, and puts out their right eyes as an insult to us 
all." The fire kindles ! Saul is another man. The slaugh- 
tered oxen are despatched in pieces, and in haste to the 



Judges xxi. 14. 



THE KING. 49 

tribes ! Memories of the Levite's concubine wake again. 
But now the Lord's Chosen summons. Over every hill 
they come, as Saul's messengers make speed across the 
Jordan with news of help. And by the next day's light 
three hundred thousand warriors — thirty thousand from 
Judah— are at the heels of the Ammonites till there is an 
utter rout and a victory. There is now no more question 
about the king. " Bring forth to their death those mur- 
murers against the king — the children of Belial !" But the 
new king is as great in magnanimity as in conquest. " The 
Lord alone has done it. No man shall die for me." 

And then at Gilgal, in another national assembly, the 
whole people solemnly confirm the divine choice with sacri- 
fices, peace-offerings, and joyful, unanimous, and trium- 
phant agreement. The people's choice and Jehovah's 
choice agree. 

The venerable Seer makes his farewell address. Pointing 
out their king, the united choice of the nation and of God, 
he solemnly repeats the faith of their fathers and the law 
of Moses, to which they must adhere, re-enforces it by the 
mighty history of the past, and seals its authority anew by 
calling thunder and rain on the harvest — a thing as in- 
comprehensible as snow in summer to the Hebrews. The 
people tremble, and before their king confess their guilt in 
asking for him. The Seer in the name of God, bids them 
support the kingdom in the faith and law of God. They 
assent, and the son of Kish, honored by all the tribes, 
takes up his royal state at Gibeah. 

" This was the way it came about," we may imagine 
Jesse saying to the young shepherd from the valleys, as they 
return past Rachel's sepulchre, where more than once they 
had stopped to comment on historical events,* " when you, 
David, were a child upon your mother's knees, and when 
we of Bethlehem came home to tell the wonderful story ■" 



Genesis xxxv. 19, 20. 1 Samuel x. 1-2. 



(Siigljllj Smtimij. 



THE KING'S SON. 



LESSON. 

i Samuel xiii. xiv. 1-46 ; x. 8. 

LET us suppose now that David is about twelve years 
old, accustomed, like Joseph in earlier days, to visit 
his brothers in the fields. Saul has been king two years. 
Since Samuel's retirement, the Philistines have made rapid 
strides again. They have succeeded is disarming the peo- 
ple. They have captured the smiths or broken up their 
forges. Whoever would forge or sharpen even a plough- 
point or prong-fork, unless he takes the slow file to do it, 
must go down to the Philistines. Good weapons are few. 
The nation is distressed at its weakness, and in terror at 
the power of the enemy. 

A double wave of news comes to Bethlehem, and flows 
through the land, first elevating and then depressing the 
people : first, "The king's son has routed the enemy at 
Geba;" and then, "The Philistines have heard of it, and 
are rallying for revenge." The king's son? The mind of 
David is alive. Jonathan must have been at least twenty 
years old ; six or eight years older than David. And this 
shows that, if Saul had a full-grown son two years after his 
inauguration, Saul himself must have been about forty 
years of age when crowned at Gilgal. 
(50) 



THE KING'S SON. 



51 



Much is meant by the news — much to stir the heart of 
young David — first, with enthusiasm and admiration at 
the valor and piety of Jonathan, and then with sympathy 
for him in his trouble. For King Saul has had three 




thousand chosen warriors in the heart of Benjamin ; his 
army line lying along the hills from Michmash, seven miles 
north of Jebus, to Bethel, some three or four miles further 
north. The heights command the principal road to the 
northern tribes, and one principal ravine down to the Jor- 
dan. One thousand of the three is under Jonathan at 
Gibeah. Whether it was a military post at Geba, on the 
opposite edgQ of the rough ravine, south-west from 
Michmash, which Jonathan took, or an officer stationed 
there — the Hebrew word may mean either garrison or 
officer — the enemy is exasperated. Timid hearts con- 
demn the son of Saul as more rash than brave in his 
valor. Let them wait and see ! 

Thirty thousand chariots gather on the plain, and six 
thousand horsemen. And an overpowering army, fully 
armed and fully aroused, swarm up the gorges and along 
the mountain-paths. Saul sends the trumpet throughout 



52 



EIGHTH SUNDA Y. 



the land to signal all the tribes. The people come in 
mass to support the three thousand souls smitten with 
panic. > They clamber down the rough way to Gilgal be- 
low, whither the king has summoned the people. They 
hide in the limestone caverns, and in the thickets, and on 
mountain-tops. Some flee even to the eastern tribes. 
The Philistines pitch on the deserted field. They look 
down on the trembling flock around Saul, content enough 
to hold those important heights. 

Another prediction of the Seer has come true, confirm- 
ing to Saul the kingdom. For Saul finds himself in Gilgal, 
where Samuel foretold him that he would come, and where 
he bade him wait seven days, till he should offer sacrifices 
for him and give him God's word and order. But in his 
dismay at the desertion of the people, and fearing the de- 
scent of the Philistines, like Peter in the winds and waves, 
the king loses sight of the divine power, and himself orders 
the burnt-offering. By so doing, he himself assumes the 
conduct of the war, disobeys the instructions of the 
prophet, and virtually puts himself above the law. The 
prophet denounces a woe against his royal succession — a 
thing which was, perhaps, not known to Jonathan at the 
time, since he and his thousand may have still held posses- 
sion of Geba. To Geba or Gibeah, Saul and his six hun- 
dred remaining men climb back, inspired by the Seer's 
holy courage. Across the rough and deep ravines they 
encamp face to face — Gibeah to Michmash, Hebrews to 
Philistines. There the Hebrews see the Philistine raiders 
ravaging the country. Three companies of " spoilers " 
go, one to the west, towards Beth-horon ; one to the east, 
towards the Jordan, as probably "towards the wilderness" 
means, and one probably towards the north, although we 
know nothing of " Ophrah, or the land of Shual." " While," 
Josephus says, " King Saul and his son Jonathan saw 
what was done, but were not able to defend the land." 



THE KING'S SON. 53 

The Septuagint says " they wept aloud " at the misfor- 
tunes which they saw, but could not help. 

Now appear the pious faith, the brave spirit, the direct 
energy of the son. He had provoked the incursion by 
taking this hold of Geba. In the name of the God of 
battles he would drive the enemy out. He plans an at- 
tack, in which he will trust, not to his own royal assump- 
tion, as his father has done, but to divine assistance. He 
agrees with his armor-bearer on a day. They would climb 
down the sharp precipice Seneh, and up the sharp precipice 
Bozez, and would come on the enemy from an unexpected 
quarter in an unexpected moment, and would, in God's 
strength, gain foothold for others to follow. There God 
should set up their banner to rally the timid ! The de- 
scription of the situation by Josephus cannot be far from 
the general truth : " Now the enemy's camp was upon a 
precipice which had three tops that ended in a sharp and 
long extremity, while there was a rock that surrounded 
them like the lines made to prevent the attacks of an 
enemy. There it so happened that the outgnards of the 
camp were neglected, because of the security that here 
arose from the situation of the place, and because they 
thought it altogether impossible not only to ascend to the 
camp in that quarter, but so much as to come near it." 
God favors them. They surprised the camp from their 
very strongest side, Josephus says while the army was 
sleeping. Like their brethren of their tribe and house, 
who, " armed with bows, could use both the right hand 
and the left, in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of 
a bow" (1 Chron. xii. 2) — "swift as eagles, strong as 
lions," as David in his elegy afterwards said Saul and 
Jonathan were — they " discharged a flight of arrows, 
stones, and pebbles from their bows, crossbows, and 
slings, with such effect that twenty men fell at the first on- 
set. A panic seized the garrison, then spread to the camp, 



54 EIGHTH SUXDA Y. 

and then to the surrounding hordes of marauders ; an 
earthquake combined with the terror of the moment, the 
confusion increased ; the Israelites who had been taken 
slaves, as the Septuagint says, by the Philistines during 
the last three days, rose in mutiny ; the Israelites who lay 
hid in the numerous caverns and deep holes in which the 
rocks of the neighborhood abound, sprang out of their 
subterranean dwellings."* Like the victory given with 
thunderings to Samuel at Mizpeh, is this victory given 
with earthquake and panic to Jonathan. 

At one step Jonathan rises into favor on the enthusias- 
tic admiration and thanks of the people ; and but for an- 
other folly of the blundering Saul, would have inspired the 
nation with noble thoughts of the royal house — a folly 
divinely overruled to prevent too strong an attachment to 
the house of Saul. 

No sooner do Saul's watchmen discover the retreat of 
the enemy, and his army rouses the country in full pursuit 
after Jonathan to the victory, than Saul proclaims a solemn 
curse on all eating till nightfall, till the enemy is routed 
and slaughtered. From morning light, if Josephus is 
right, through the livelong day till evening, from twelve to 
fifteen miles westward, over the mountains of Ephraim, 
the fighting goes on, over rocks and headlong precipices, 
in chasms and valleys, down to Aijalon, on the borders of 
their lowland. Flushed with victory, Jonathan breaks an 
order which was indeed foolish, but which was a royal military 
order, issued by the authority of a king divinely appointed. 
He takes advantage of the fact that the king is his father. 
He even justifies the people in breaking it, telling them 
the victory would have been greater if no such order had 
been given. The heated and wearied people rush into 
excess upon the spoil, and break the Levitical law which 
forbids the eating of the blood upon the meat. The Lord 

* Stanley. 



THE KING'S SOX. 



55 



shuts off the full success of conquest. There is an Achan 
in the camp by the Lord's word. Saul swears before the 
altar that the guilty man shall die. By division and by 
divine lot, Jonathan is taken. He confesses his folly and 
his sin before the people ; he acknowledges the just pun- 
ishment ; he listens to the dread sentence of his father, who 
stands solemnly committed to the holy execution of the law. 

And had not the people, full of astonishment both at 
the victory wrought by God through Jonathan, and at the 
divine arrest and sentence of Jonathan as a criminal, been 
ready to explain all the unfortunate circumstances of that 
peculiar crime before the altar to God, had they not con- 
fessed their own guilt and their repentance, and honored 
the law itself by solemn sacrifices, as we may reasonably 
suppose,, Jonathan must have died by the law of the king- 
dom and the law of God. " By which means," says Jo- 
sephus again, " they snatched him out of danger he was 
in from his father's curse, while they made their prayers to 
God also for the young man, that he would remit his sin." 

What a strange mixture have we here in the intelligence 
which throbbed along the avenues to all the tribes t The 
king's son's first attack; the king's first panic; the king 
condemned, his succession denied; the prince-royal rescuing 
the land, the prince-royal condemned to death ; the people 
guilty ; the penitent people rescuing the guilty prince ; 
pardon and peace by the altar and by the law. How the 
heart of David throbbed at all this, as he hears, perhaps 
for the first time, of this generous, valiant, pious, impulsive 
youth of the royal house, bringing in the same hour the 
victory and the blame of God ! How he longed to be by 
his side in the fight, in the place of that armor-bearer, with 
their trust in God ! Might not David have been that 
armor-bearer ? No ; he was too young. Jonathan is 
only just grown, we must suppose, and his sister Michal, 
between himself and whom were three children, was nearer 
David's age. 



Ithttjj Sdmircjj. 



THE RISE AND THE FALL. 



LESSON. 

i Samuel xiv. 47-52 ; xv. 1-23, 32, 33 ; xvii. 34-37 ; Deuteronom}' xxv. 17-19. 

ANEW energy now sprang up in the nation. The king 
and his son were towers of strength and engines of 
destruction against their enemies. There was strenuous 
war all the time with the Philistines. For six or eight 
years the king was gaining in power. Saul was in his prime. 
The reverse which Jonathan had given to the Philistines 
held them in check. At length the nation had champions 
who cleared their coast. The Hebrews learned anew the 
power of their rocks and mountains. The wolves bayed 
at the sheep in the distance. Nahash with his Ammonites 
and Moabites was forced to keep well behind the Salt Sea. 
Marauders of Edora were kept below Beersheba. The 
kings of Zobah — a country or district undefined to us, 
lying somewhere in the region of Damascus and Lebanon 
— were compelled to retire behind the north-east plains and 
mountains. Wherever he went, north, south, east, or west, 
the valiant king gained his cause — and God was with him. 
The Amalekites, roving in Bedouin license along the south- 
ern border — once in league with the Moabite Eglon and 
driven out by Ehud, once overrunning the country with the 
Midianites, like locusts in multitude, into the very north, 
(56) 



THE RISE AND THE FALL. $y 

and thrown into panic by Gideon's trumpets and lamps — 
these fierce and lustful plunderers King Saul swept back 
in mighty valor. 

The king was learning, too, how to strengthen his royal 
power internally. He watched for men who developed 
abilities. When he saw them, he took them to himself. 
The consequence must have been a court of military 
strength in the eyes of the people. Abner was at the head 
of the army, that uncle of Saul — yes, no doubt that very 
uncle whose eager mind was first to ask, on his return 
home, what the Seer said unto him when he was in pur- 
suit of the asses. 

The annals of peace are always shorter than the annals 
of war, and there is little information, therefore, given us 
in respect to this important time of Saul's life. But we can 
see that the surrounding nations were held in check by 
the valiant king. Vineyards are trained again on the hill- 
sides. Flocks again graze freely in the valleys and fresh 
ravines of spring. Grain waves in the fields. Home is 
peaceful. No alarm thrills the house by night or by day. 
The story of battles is the calm story of even success, and 
no longer the palpitating story a life-and-death struggle. 
Beneath the royal shepherd, the wolves fear and the sheep 
are safe. 

Meanwhile, David himself has grown to be a shepherd. 
He takes his flocks down the valleys about Bethlehem, 
some of which to this day are fresh with verdure. He 
leads them along the dark ravines, perhaps through the 
evening shades when the short twilight shuts out the sun. 
He stretches the strings over a piece of cypress or juni- 
per, or tunes a pipe from a Jordan reed. His frame 
grows solid with strength. His limbs develop in agility 
and in feats of clambering up and down the rocks. The 
sharp limestone chips he hurls with precision and with a 
powerful arm against yonder growling bear that peers 



58 NINTH SUNDA Y. 

through the stony ledge. And that day comes and passes 
when, with a roar and a spring, a lion is upon the flock, 
and the test is on him whether he will play the hireling or 
the good shepherd. Quicker than that shepherd whom 
the prophet Amos describes, who rescues from the lion's 
mouth only " two legs or the piece of an ear," the lion- 
hearted youth is on him. Like a flash he, clutches him, 
and like a flash his spear or his knife finds the vitals. 
Yonder growler comes another day ; the young shepherd 
prowls for him as he prowls for the lamb ; his challenge 
is accepted, his burly body stretched on the rocks for the 
wheeling eagles and sly foxes, and the bleeding lamb 
snatched from his teeth.* 

Awe-struck at the danger and the deliverance, he as- 
cribes his success to God, and treasures in his grateful 
heart that vivid picture which afterwards, when in danger 
from human enemies, he paints in his psalms : 

" O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust : 
Save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me : 
Lest he tear my soul like a lion, 
Rending me in pieces while there is none to deliver." 

" They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth ; 
Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, 
And as it were a young lion lurking in secret places." 

" They gaped upon me with their mouths, 
As a ravening and a roaring lion." 

But these dangers from wild beasts were less to be 
feared than dangers from fiercer foes who had been accus- 
tomed to steal from the southern desert around the ends 
of the Dead Sea, to file up the torrent-beds from the west, 
and to pour down the Jordan channel from the north, and 
whose corruptions were worse than their cruelty. 



* " Thevenot says : ' The Arabs are not afraid of lions, but if 
armed with a good stick will pursue them, and kill them if they 
can catch them.' " 



THE RISE AND THE FALL. 



59 



While David is looking for fresh pasture by day and 
keeping his shepherd's lodge by night, and occasionally 
returning to Bethlehem, King Saul has a new commission 
from the Seer. Strong now in his kingdom and in the 
esteem of his people, he is in just the position to execute 
the long-deferred and righteous purpose of God. Those 
fierce Amalekites whom he has begun to chastise have 
long deserved the full measure of the divine judgment. 
Cruel and merciless, they played the guerilla on the army 
of Moses. The feeble, -who, faint and weary, could not 
keep on the march, they flew upon and killed. A roam- 
ing tribe themselves, they hated and murdered the Hebrew 
wanderers of the desert. There can be little doubt that 
they were as sensual as they were cruel. Therefore God 
revived to Saul the curse on Arnalek which he first uttered 
to Moses. As for the command to inflict execution, Saul 
had no responsibility. * Jehovah himself assumed the jus- 
tice or injustice of the act. " Go and utterly destroy the 
sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them till they be 
consumed," is his order. The command is given in par- 
ticulars. Spare no man nor woman, not even the infant. 
Destroy oxen and sheep, camel and ass. Leave nothing 
to infect the people by even remote association with their 
fierce and beastial wickedness. Let no fairness of appear- 
ance or of wealth give power to their temptations to 
cruelty or lust. As for thyself, remember only " that 
which Arnalek did to Israel when he laid wait for him 
when he came out of Egypt, and that for this long-de- 
ferred work of justice and judgment on the wicked I have 
given thee royal power and position." 

Forthwith the king accepts the commission. He gath- 
ers two hundred thousand men, ten thousand from Judah 
— Bethlehem and every other city of the tribe must have 
been astir — at Telaim, which is supposed to have been in 
the extreme south, beyond Beersheba. Many of the troops 



60 XINTH SUNDA Y. 

must have filed past Bethlehem and the flocks of David. 
The city at which they make a stand Saul takes ; their 
army he pursues from Havilah to Shur, from one end of 
the desert to the other, east to west. The homeward 
march is sounded, King Agag a prisoner, and the spoil 
rich and splendid. 

Noble is the king's prowess in the eyes of the people, 
but terrible his crime in the eyes of God. The very man 
that stands as the champion of the tribe and its wicked- 
ness, the king and leader, he spares. He destroyed every- 
thing that was refuse and vile among the animals — that is, 
everything that would have excited contempt for the Amal- 
ekites. But the best of the sheep and oxen and lambs, 
and all that was good — that is, everything which would 
provoke the people to admire the Amalekites and their 
possessions, these he spared. The supposition seems prob- 
able " that Saul spared the king for no other reason than 
that for which he retained the spoils, namely : to make a 
more splendid show at the sacrificial thanksgiving." The 
king's vanity and self-will were overruling his respect for 
the supreme law. Josephus says that Saul " admired the 
beauty and tallness" of Agag so much that he thought 
him worthy of preservation. It is quite likely, therefore, 
that Saul came back to Carmel, below Hebron, and then 
over to Gilgal, to make a great sacrifice before the assem- 
bled people, a grand thanksgiving and Te Deum for the 
splendid victory. 

Here at Gilgal, in what he considers the very height of 
his glory, the Seer meets him to let in the flood of truth 
upon his vain and self-willed mind. The very pomp of 
his victory is teaching disobedience to God, in the very 
place where holiness and wickedness are in conflict. He 
has thwarted the very object which God sent him to ac- 
complish. He was to shut off for ever from the people's 
mind all associations with the Amalekites, and he had 



THE RISE AND THE FALL. 6l 

brought this stately and handsome king into the heart of 
the land with the best of his flocks to the great gathering 
of the people. On a grand scale, he had assembled his 
troops and made known the express command of God. 
On a grand scale, he has deliberately assumed superiority 
to God's orders, and has made his disobedience splendid 
and attractive. What he did in adversity at Gilgal when 
the Philistines pressed him hard, he now does at Gilgal in 
the height of national prosperity and victory. How can 
he be longer trusted with the nation and the law ? 

Samuel has cried unto the Lord all night, that he would 
spare Saul ; but he sees clearly now that the king or the 
law must be sacrificed. The sentence is therefore prompt 
and unsparing. " It was not sacrifice, but display which 
you sought ; not burnt-offerings, but the pomp of heathen 
self-will ; not God's glory, but your own. In what does 
the Lord delight : in offerings or in obedience ? in flocks 
for sacrifice or in attention to his word ? in rebellion or in 
law? Which does he consider the better, the- wickedness 
and idolatry of Amalek, or the stubbornness of Saul, which 
will lead to them? Because thou hast rejected the word 
of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king." 



C-entlj SSunircjji 



THE SEER AT BETHLEHEM. 



LESSON. 

i Samuel xv. 23-35 ; xvi. 1-14. 

IT is an interesting question now, as we come to the 
private anointing of David, how far it was known 
throughout the nation that the house of Saul was deposed 
from the kingship. Did it thrill, like the news of his 
coronation, to the remotest villages of the land ? Did 
Jonathan know it ? Did the people of Bethlehem know 
it ? Was what Samuel said to Saul, " Hath given it to a 
neighbor of thine that is better than thou," common 
news ? 

On the one hand, if it should be commonly understood 
that the family of the son of Kish had been deposed, 
would it not harm the nation as well as the king ? If 
Saul himself was to continue king for some years, would 
not the kingdom be alienated from a man for whose un- 
faithfulness his house was cut off from the royal succes- 
sion ? Would there not be danger of the nation turning 
their thoughts to some way of ridding themselves of the 
reproach of a condemned king ? Would not the office be 
weakened, while the people clung to its form, and while 
they discussed the claims of this family and that to the 
throne ? In this way the very stability of the kingdom 
would be shaken. 

(62) 



THE SEER AT BETHLEHEM. 



63 



On the other hand, if the condemnation of the royal 
house was a secret sentence known only to Saul and 
Samuel, how could the proper disapproval of Saul's char- 
acter be shown ? If he was a divinely-chosen king, and 
the people believed him divinely maintained in office, then 
they would copy his corrupt example and relapse into 
their old decline from virtue. 

We must take a middle ground ; that the deposition of 
his family from the kingship was not known to the whole 
nation, perhaps not even till after Saul's death ; that it was 
not widely known among the people, except so far as it 
gradually filtrated down to them through the limited circle 
which at first learned the important secret \ and that a 
limited circle did know it from the first. The people 
could not fail to notice the change in the Seer. He 
separated himself from the king. He evidently disap- 
proved the king's spirit, and did not hesitate to have it 
known. He mourned over the king's wilfulness and 
temper. It is altogether likely that the king began to 
show at once, as he certainly did afterwards, a conscious- 
ness of the loss of divine favor. It was perhaps- — in the 
exact knowledge of the facts — the dread state secret of 
that young kingdom, guarded, it may be, with oriental 
jealousy, but sufficiently ascertained by the well-informed 
in the gates of the land. 

Let us notice how the Scriptures support this view of 
the matter. 

1. So far as we have already come, there has occurred 
nothing which Saul and the prophet might not have known 
exclusively. The rebuke to Saul, at Shiloh, the first time 
for assuming to offer the burnt-offering, might have been 
communicated to Saul alone. " Saul went out to meet 
him." The rebuke and the denial of a successor on the 
throne is evidently a private communication to Saul, or in 
the presence of his military body-guard. And it was just 



64 TENTH SUNDA Y. 

so the second time at Gilgal, up to the point of the Seer's 
rebuke. Saul's request that Samuel will honor his kingly 
office " before the elders of my people" shows that the 
communications between the two were not open and 
public. 

2. But with the execution ofAgag at this second visit 
of Samuel to Saul at Gilgal, there is a public and awful 
manifestation of disapproval, which all the assembly see, 
and all the nation must have felt. When Saul confessed 
his sin he begged the prophet yet to honor him before the 
people. Samuel does go and offer sacrifice before the 
people. He still supports publicly Saul as the anointed 
king, but it is at that very same sacrifice that he strikes 
down Agag the murderer with a swift and terrible death — 
Agag whom the king had spared and who thought the 
bitter sentence of death passed by, so weak and lenient 
was the king. Putting aside, as he must have done, the 
flocks and herds of Agag, he made a great change in the 
sacrifice that day. It was a very different offering from the 
grand Te Deum which the king intended. And the change 
must have been as marked in the minds of the people as 
it was humiliating to the king. 

3. Samuel's withdrawal from Saul after such a solemn 
and signal act must have been observed. He mourned 
for the king. This must have been known at Raman and 
in the rude court-life at Gibeah, to which Saul returned. 
There was a lasting breach. It is hardly possible that the 
discerning did not see that the king was no longer in 
favor, and that the irreconcilable breach was not so much 
between the Seer and the king, as between the king and 
the Lord of hosts. 

This secret, if not at first known to the prince royal, who 
was the most interested, soon became known to him. The 
counsellors of the king saw in the king, as time went on, 
the development of a stubborn will which would not brook 



THE SEER AT BETHLEHEM. 



65 



even the direction of God. For this it was by which God 
had virtually put him off his throne. The elders of tribes 
and of cities became acquainted with the king's temper 
and the king's rejection. During all this time the matter 
would not be spoken of to the king. Delicacy forbade. 
Fear forbade. 

But the king's mind was haunted. " The Lord hath re- 
jected thee ; hath rent the kingdom from thee ; given it to 
a neighbor of thine." How his mind brooded gloomily on 
these thoughts at times ! We know what his resolution 
was afterwards. It was to maintain himself resolutely in 
the kingdom ; to be ready for the new upstart — this 
neighbor — and to make way with him as soon as possible. 
And these very dark and gloomy thoughts were soon to 
bring into his very presence the stripling who was to sway 
the kingdom with great and holy power. 

Samuel himself feared Saul's malignity. When he said, 
" If Saul hear it, he will kill me," he could hardly have 
feared that Saul would have put him to death legally for 
treason in anointing another king, but that his deadly 
malice was fully set, like the jealousy of oriental tyrants, 
against even the prophet whose office it might be to select 
a new king. 

And so Samuel goes to Bethlehem to anoint a king from 
Jesse's house, under cover of a sacrifice. The anointment 
of David is therefore private — as Saul's first anointment 
had been — confined to the family of David, the act not 
known even to the town. 

The little city, however, is moved by the coming of the 
great and good man. The elders tremble at the announce- 
ment of the visit, and, when they hear that the Seer is 
coming up the Jebus road, solemnly driving a heifer before 
him, they recall his last public act — a few years before — 
the righteous vengeance on Agag at the sacrifice. What 
now has called him from his retirement ? Why does he 



66 TENTH SUNDA Y. 

come in this formal manner to Bethlehem ? What woe 
has he for us ? Some of them no doubt helped to drive 
home the fair flocks of Agag. But " Peace !" is his saluta- 
tion. " I have come to sacrifice for sin, and to honor the 
Lord. Sanctify yourselves, and come." He gives special 
attention to Jesse and his family — by ceremonies of puri- 
fication preparing them for the sacrifice. The public offer- 
ing is over. Flesh from the sacrifice is taken home to the 
houses for the after-feast. Samuel goes with Jesse's fam- 
ily. And there and then, before the home-feast begins — 
in the court, or a room off the court of that house on the 
street of Bethlehem — transpires the scene of anointing. 
Jesse is made acquainted with his errand — and his sons. 
EHab, like Saul in goodly proportions and features, has 
moral features like Saul. Neither he nor any one of the 
seven is acceptable to Him who looks not, like the nation, 
on the bodily presence, but on the heart. " Are these all 
thy children ?" No ; there was one whom it was not 
thought worth while to call in to the sacrifice, nor to see 
Samuel that day — the least important. " No ; there is the 
youngest, who is looking after the sheep." " Send for 
him. We will not taste of the food till he is come." A 
messenger goes — a son or servant. A flush is on the 
cheek of the quick-footed young man as he comes from 
the narrow entrance into the court. 

" This is he : arise ; anoint him !" is the secret voice 
of the Lord. 

There, in the presence of the family — his mother,* Ze- 
ruiah, and the women, of course, not with them, but in the 
women's apartment, if at home at all, perhaps peering 
through a lattice — the prophet pours his sacred oil on his 
head ; and David the Darling is henceforth in the family 
David the Anointed. 



* David's mother was living after this time. See I Samuel 
xxii. 3. 



THE SEER AT BETHLEHEM. 



67 



What instructions the prophet gave that day may be 
easily imagined : the reasons why he anoints David ; the 
king deposed ; the Lord's direction ; the future time when 
God will call him openly to his throne and to his own work. 
Secrecy was an important part of all this transaction. It 
indicated God's secret purpose, which was not yet to be 
made public. Samuel need not urge reasons why the 
anointment should be kept secret. The safety of the fam- 
ily, as well as the safety of the son, would secure this. 
For the king would not scruple to take the life of one son 
or of all the sons, if he suspected that one of that house 
was aspiring to the throne. Indeed Samuel himself said, 
when the Lord directed him to Bethlehem, " How can I 
go ? if Saul hear it, he will kill me." 



(Silebenilj Simirag. 



THE KING SENDS FOR DAVID. 



lesson: 

i Samuel xvi. 14-23. 

TWO or three, five or six years may have passed after 
Jesse's family were possessed of the important secret 
before the next important event came to pass. The Spirit 
of God is upon David, enriching his natural gifts with su- 
pernatural endowments. As he goes before the sheep, and 
his quick eye runs from this side to that for pasture and 
for beasts, his quicker thoughts run over the national his- 
tory, the laws of God, the Theocracy, the kingdom, and 
that private anointing of the venerable man of God. He 
knows that he is called of God to some important work 
in life. Songs of praise and of thanks, and of loyalty to 
God's love, and God's law escape his lips. They strike 
the ear of the passer-by, who waits to listen to the sweet 
voice and the harmonious accompaniment of the well- 
thrummed lyre. His daring and his prudent speech, his 
handsome person, and the sincerity of his piety, become 
known. 

If Eliab and Shammah are jealous, as Judah and Sim- 
eon were jealous of Joseph, they dare not tell the dan- 
gerous secret of the anointment, for the risk is as great to 
(68) 



THE KING SENDS FOR DA VI D. 



6 9 



the whole family as to him. And as for his nephews, Abi- 
shai, Joab, and Asahel, and Amasa — those daily compan- 
ions of David's work and recreation — while their exploits 
challenge and sharpen his abilities, his loving temper sub- 
dues their fierce and turbulent nature. Perhaps they sus- 
pect what it was for, that the prophet called David away 
from them at the sheep-fold. Possibly they too have been 
entrusted with the sacred message, and exalted prospects 
of their young and gracious uncle. If the town becomes 
possessed of the knowledge, honor and fear guard the 
secret. 

At length, one day, a messenger from King Saul himself 
arrives : " Send me David thy son who is with the sheep." 
Has King Saul heard '? No! It was only a sacrifice which 
Samuel made at Bethlehem ! It is a friendly and not 
a hostile message. The king desires his musical skill 
and handsome speech. Forthwith an ass is led out from 
the court ; a skin of wine and a goodly kid are thrown 
across his back, with a leathern bag or a basket of bread- 
patties or bread-cakes from the oven (bread is baked every 
day in the East), and with the king's messenger David 
leaves his homes for — the Kingdom! In Jesse's gift are 
both courtesy and expediency. 

But at Gibeah a different house waits for David. While 
the Spirit of God has come upon David, that Spirit has de- 
parted from Saul. His endowments, which have been 
roused to extraordinary power under God's blessing, have 
failed him under God's frown. Inspiring thoughts — such 
as are sent into good men's minds by God — no longer 
animate him. He is troubled by him against whom he 
has turned. 

It is not of very high importance that we should know 
precisely what is meant by " the evil spirit from God H 
which was upon Saul. Some persons have imagined it to 
be nothing more than bodily disease which preyed upon 



j ELE VENTH SUNDA \ '. 

his mind ; a spasmodic lunacy or deep melancholy. 
Others think it the frenzy of a high temper, stung by disap- 
pointment and obstinate by resistance. It is better to take 
the Scripture plainly as it stands. The doctrine of demo- 
niac possession of the human soul is plainly taught in the 
Scriptures. The devil not only entered into Saul, who 
betrayed God's kingdom, as he entered into Judas, who be- 
trayed our Lord, but was there as a direct possessor and 
troubler of his soul. As all men who oppose themselves 
to God are taken captive by the devil at his will, so some 
men who, in the midst of great and plain opportunities to 
do good and to be good, have become stubborn instead of 
docile, are given up to the full possession of Satan. The 
existence of Satan is an awful certainty; and just how or 
when Satan or a minion of his takes full possession of an 
utter apostate, we cannot discern. 

Probably, however, the outward manifestation of this 
possession soon became clear. His heart, haunted by the 
prophet's woes and by the sense of the divine with- 
drawal, grew dull and hard. Like Satan, he gave himself 
up to a vain and desperate self-assertion against God's 
decree. His subsequent career shows it. He became mad 
and raving at times in his passions, suspecting very likely 
some one of his court to be conspiring against him, or watch- 
ing for that "neighbor" to whom the kingdom would be 
given. Reason and good sense and kindly thoughts re- 
turned at times — as they do occasionally even in aban- 
doned men — when his courtiers endeavored to soothe 
and subdue him. And when his self-will could be over- 
come by pleasing reasons, they argued that pleasing 
sounds addressed to a selfish fancy might lull to rest 
the beast and the serpent in him. And, therefore, they 
recommended a skilled musician or minstrel. The selfish 
will of the king was pleased, and, when one of the ser- 
vants said that he knew such a man, little cared he who 



THE KING SENDS FOR DA VI D. y 1 

or where he was. " Send for him," was his order. The 
very essence of demoniac possession consists in the co- 
operation of the demon's self-will and the self-will of the 
soul possessed ; and, therefore, satanic and human self- 
will may be soothed at the same time by the gratification 
of any self-willed fancy. And when " David came to 
Saul and stood before him," his will was much pleased. 
The grace and beauty of the youth, his music, his ad- 
dress and compact strength, his stature, which disarmed 
the king's mind from the suspicion that he could be his 
successor ; these pleased and soothed him through his 
taste. He at once appointed him his personal attendant ; 
to bear his armor and wait upon his person.* He was 
delighted with him. When his paroxysms of kingly 
jealousy and desperation came on, the unknown king be- 
fore him, with song and harp, diverted his self-will from 
jealousy to pleasure. "So Saul was well and was re- 
freshed, and the evil spirit departed from him." The 
towering rage of jealousy and of selfish will no more 
appeared. The intensity of his mad temper, superinduced 
by satanic possession, relaxed and passed away, as he 
gazed in astonishment on the performance of. the mu- 
sician. 

Another young man must have been silently observ- 
ing — Jonathan ! What friendship here began, as those 
gentle and brave eyes met, and courteous addresses 
challenged each other's admiration in that royal house ! 

We cannot tell how long David was at Gibeah — a few 
months perhaps. He was only a temporary charmer. He 
shortly went home — it may have been at his own request. 



* The words translated "armor-bearer " mean literally, "the 
one bearing the prepared (things)," that is, bearer of apparatus, 
whether weapons in the army, or clothing, or furniture in the 
house. Perhaps "armor-bearer" realty includes all these. 



72 



ELEVENTH SUN DA Y. 



The revelation of royal life made to him could not have 
been agreeable. Gibeah ! the name was offensive ! The 
well and walls of Bethlehem were full of peace and 
strength to him. It may be that Saul grew sufficiently in- 
different to let David depart. 



Stodfttj Sxmimjr. 



THE PUBLIC INTRODUCTION. 



LESSON. 

i Samuel xvii. ; 2 Samuel xxi. 15-23 ; Deuteronomy ii. 10-12, 20, 21 ; ix. 2 ; 
Joshua xv. 8 ; xviii. i5 ; 2 Samuel v. 18 ; xxiii. 13 ; 1 Chronicles xi. 11-14. 

THE time had come for God to bring David out into 
public life. The broken power of the Philistines 
rallied again. The Israelites anticipated their ascent 
The king and the army met them well down the ravine 
towards their own country. There the two armies en- 
camped again face to face, as at Michmash a few years be- 
fore, the Hebrews on the south side, the Philistines on 
the north side, and the valley between. This time the 
valley is not a gorge of steep and broken recks, but a 
little, fertile plain, still partly covered with fields of grain, 
and where still grows the terebinth-tree, from which comes 
the name "Valley of Elah" or "Valley of Terebinth" 
On the opposite hills were the tents of the armies. Re- 
membering, perhaps, the achievements of Jonathan at 
Michmash, the Philistines put forth a challenge to personal 
combat, and lay the wager of victory on the single fight. 
The challenge is thundered forth with such audacity and 
boastful defiance that Saul and his army are abashed. The 
champion is a giant. Llis stature is a tremendous chal- 
lenge to Saul personally. He is from a family of giants, 
of whom there are at least a father and five sons. His 



74 



TWELFTH SUNDA Y. 



powerful body, towering to ten feet three and a half 
inches,* bearing his ponderous coat of brazen mail, takes 
every soldier's mind back to the Sons of Anak — the giants 
conquered by Joshua. Here before them the soldiers 
see a remnant of those huge and terrible 
men whom the Moabites called Emim ; 
the Edomites, Horim ; the Ammonites, 
Zuzim, or Zamzummim ; and the He- 
brews, Anakim ; \ and who were all, 
no doubt, clans of the tribe of " the 
Rephaim," or " the Giants," the frag- 
ments of which still dwell in the land. 





kdoW» m ~ 



The power of these associations must have affected 
the soldiers' minds fully as much as Goliah's fierce 
look and challenge. And as every morning and even- 



* Six cubits and a span, reckoning the cubit at nineteen 
inches, and the span at half a cubit, make ten feet three and a 
half inches. There are other instances on record of men of 
similar height in different nations. "Pliny says that in the time 
of Claudius Caesar there was an Arab named Gabbaras nearly 
ten feet high, and that even he was not so tall as Pusio and 



f The same termination of these names in im signifies the 
plural number, like cherubzw and seraphzw. Anakim is, sons 
or children of Anak. 



THE PUBLIC INTRODUCTION. 



75 



ing the giant rent the air with his insolent shouts, the 
Hebrews' fear grew into dismay. King Saul offered 
great riches to the man who would kill him, but no 
one ventured. He offered to make the man his son-in- 
law, but no one dared. He offered besides to make 
his father's family perpetually free, but no one stirred. 
" Give me a man to fight," was his insolent challenge. 
The defiance was flung in his face a month, for forty days, 
as the terrible monster descended into the arena between 
the two armies ; and not a man, neither Jonathan nor 
Abner, nor the fierce warriors of Bethlehem, among whom 
were Eliab, and Abinadab, and Shammah, nor the King 
himself, took his life in his hand to meet the foe. God 
was preparing to introduce his king ! 

Jesse, now an old man, twelve miles off at Bethlehem, 
east from Elah, keeps his eye upon the army. Rumors of 
the champion and the challenge have no doubt come up 
to the city-gates. At length, he directs David to go down 
for the news. He loads him with a bushel of roasted 
wheat* and ten bread-cakes for his three brothers, .and 



Secundilla in the reign of Augustus, whose bodies were 
preserved. Josephus tells us that, among other hostages, Arta- 
banus sent to Tiberius a cerlain Eleazar,'a Jew, surnamed 'the 
Giant,' seven cubits in height." — Farrar in Smith's " Dictionary 
of the Bible." "One of the King of Prussia's gigantic guards, 
a Swede, measured eight feet and a half ; and a yeoman of the 
Duke John Frederick, at Brunswick, Hanover " — an Englishman 
— "was of the same height. Several Irishmen, measuring from 
seven to eight feet and upwards, have been exhibited in this 
country. The most celebrated was Charles Byrne, who died in 
1783, at the age of twenty-two, and measured eight feet four 
. inches. His skeleton in the museum of the College of Surgeons 
in London is eight feet in length.'" — English Encyclopedia. The 
average height of the Patagonians is from six and a half to seven 
feet. 
* The reapers and gleaners " offered us some of their parched 



7 6 



TWELFTH SUN DA Y. 



with slices of milk-curds for the colonel of their regiment, 
and bids him bring back a token of how they are. 
David's heart had been stirred, no doubt, already with 
the impious affront to God and to the nation, of which his 
quick ear must have heard, for it had been continued a 
whole month, only twelve miles away. And his temper 
does not cool on the way down as he thinks of it — 
reflecting, perhaps, on Samson's fights with the Philistines* 
just beyond Elah at Timnath, and on the cruel crimes of 
these heathen monsters from the days of Adoni-zedek. As 
he comes up to the baggage-circle, which formed, as in 
Arab settlements, a rude defence around the camp, he 
hears the well-known war-cry. He leaves his bag of 
wheat with the baggage-master, and hastens forward to see 
the array and the battle. As he salutes his brothers, the 
shield-bearer and the giant appear in the arena below. 
The sound of Goliath's voice nerves him like the growl 
of a bear or the roar of a lion. " No one to take the 
king's offer ! Defy the living God ! " are the outbursts 
of his patriotic and holy passion. And when Eliab 
kindles at the verdant hardihood of his strippling brother, 
fresh from sheep-leading, his spirit is the more aroused. 
" Is there not a cause for speaking ? No one to fight 
this uncircumcised Philistine ? " he says, as he turns from 
one to another. His undaunted speech creates a com- 
motion. Word comes to Saul. The king sends for him. 
And to the king he says, " Let no man's heart fail ; thy 



corn. In the season of harvest, the grains of wheat, not yet fully 
dry and hard, are roasted in a pan or an iron plate, and consti- 
tute a very palatable article of food. This is eaten along with 
bread, or instead of it. Indeed, the use of it is so common at 
this season among the laboring classes that this parched wheat 
is sold in the markets ; and it was among our list of articles to 
be purchased at Hebron for our further journey to Wady Musa.' 
— Dr. Robinson, on the road from Gaza towards Elah, vol. ii. 50. 



THE PUBLIC INTRODUCTION. yy 

servant will go and fight this Philistine." He tells the 
story of the lion and the bear, and that it is not himself 
but God who will fight. The armor of Saul he puts 
aside. His staff, and his sling, and five smooth stones 
from the brook are his weapons, as he advances into the 
arena, in the sight of the double audience of spectators. 
With rage and disdain, and curses by his gods, Goliath 
greets the little champion, so much smaller than even 
Saul, whom he would have met, so much more greedy of 
death than Saul dared to be. In the name of the living 
God, in behalf of the wide earth — little knew he how 
wide his words would ring — David accepts the challenge. 
His soul swells with holy fire. He runs to meet the 
swearing, swaggering foe. Quick as a. thought, he has a 
pebble in his sling. His strenuous arm and body let fly 
the stone, with every muscle rushing to the work. Look ! 
he staggers ! See ! the giant falls on his face. The com- 
ing general and king knows how to follow up a victory. 
He runs. The armor-bearer flees. He mounts the 
stunned body. He pulls out the sword from the huge 
sheath. The blood runs from the vulnerable neck. And 
amid the wild shouting, the thunder-struck panic, the rush 
down the valley, the cry for pursuit, he brings off Goliath's 
head and armor. 

The rout is complete. The slain line the way to the 
very gates of Gath and Ekron. The Philistines are shut 
up on their own plain within their own walls, while the 
Hebrews leisurely plunder their slaughtered and their tents. 

The king was in amazement when he looked at that 
youth hastening alone out upon the plain. He had been 
accustomed to mark men of valor and of daring. " Abner, 
tvhose son is this youth ?"* Although he has known him 



* The two descriptions of Saul's acquaintance with David in 
chapter xvi. 14-23 and in chapter xvii. 12-31, 55-5S, have been 



y 3 TWELFTH SUNDA Y. 

as a young man, pleasing in song and harp and arts of ad- 
dress, here are higher and heroic qualities worthy of defi- 
nite enquiries. But the king's man of war has taken no 
pains to enquire about a charmer of evil spirits. "En- 
quire ! " said the king. 

As the army are gathering the spoil, Abner seeks out 
David and brings him to the royal tent, the giant's head 
in his hand. There is in him none of the diffidence of 



supposed to be a disagreement or a contradiction. One state- 
ment is that David was beloved by Saul and therefore well- 
known, and was made his armor-bearer before the battle of 
Elah. The other implies, it is said, that Saul did not know 
David, and that he had no connection with the king's army 
before that battle. Horsley transposes the passages. And the 
Vatican MS. rejects chapter xvii. 12-31, 55-58, as spurious. 
But is there any necessary contradiction? According to the in- 
terpretation which we have given above, Saul in the intervals of 
his frenzy assented to his courtiers' or servants' advice to seek 
for a skilled musician. 

That being settled, a certain young musician was recom- 
mended without special note of who he was or where he came 
from. He said, " Send for him." Observe that, in the sixteenth 
chapter, Saul does not once speak Jesse s name. The writer of 
the book of Samuel, knowing the facts, says it was Jesse to whom 
he sent. Saul knows that the young man's name who is recom- 
mended is David. And so far as the record reveals Saul's 
mind or Saul's words to us, the thought and message may have 
been, " Tell the young man's father, ' Send me David, thy son, 
that is with the sheep.'" Then, when Saul saw David and 
was pleased with him, he assigned to him the office of armor- 
bearer — words which may mean keeper of his wardrobe or 
apartments, as much as bearer of his armor. At any rate, if he 
was armor-bearer, so far as the history goes, David had departed 
home before any battle or campaign occurred. 

The seventeenth chapter says particularly (verse 15), " David 
went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethle- 
hem." The thirty third verse as much implies previous ac- 
quaintance with David as lack of acquaintance. When David's 



THE PUBLIC INTRODUCTION. 79 

Saul when he hid among the stuff at his anointing, but a 
divine courage and a modest but heroic self-reliance in his 
bearing. Jonathan, glowing with admiration — none but 
the brave can admire the brave — looks on. "Whose son 
art thou, thou young man ?" Did ever psalm syllable 
itself more sweetly than the beautiful and modest answer : 
"I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite "? 
Did ever lips of grace and a warrior's arm blend in spoken 



sublime bravery impressed Saul and he saw his conspicuous 
part before the whole nation, his interest in David was wholly 
changed. It was at once intense and particular. If he had 
known nothing of Jesse before, his question was, "Abner, whose 
son is this ) r outh ? " If he had known something of Jesse, the 
question may have been, " Whose son is this youth ? " And 
this. question is capable of two constructions: the one, " Whose 
son did I understand this youth is ? " the other, "Is this }-oung 
man really the son of Jesse of Bethlehem ? Enquire particu- 
larly." If he knew nothing of Jesse, then Saul said to David, 
"Whose son art thou, thou young man?" If he had known 
Jesse to be his father, he may have said with a profound and 
particular intensity, a king's interest bounding in the thought, 
" Whose son art thou, thou young man ? " 

If we interpret it in this way, the order of the history is 
natural. The interpretation is easily admissible, and relieves the 
necessity of transposition or erasure — too dangerous a resort 
even to relieve a perplexity, when three thousand years have 
intervened since the events transpired. 

It may be said besides, that on the first occasion Saul was 
half, or wholly out of his mind, but on the second occasion 
quite sober. 

Thomson says : " It is a fact that lads of this country, par- 
ticularly of the higher classes, are often very fair, full-faced 
and handsome until about fourteen years of age, but during the 
next two or three years a surprising change takes place. 
David had become a shepherd after leaving the king's palace, 
an occupation which, of all others, would most rapidly change 
his fair complexion into a dirty bronze. He appeared in his 
shepherd's attire, not in the gay dress of a courtier." 



80 T WELF TH S UN DA Y. 

and mute eloquence, as when Goliath's head and David's 
words addressed the stalwart Saul ? 

Jonathan confessed to himself his exploit at Michmash, 
surpassed in courage, piety, and completeness. He was 
absorbed in admiration. No wonder that from that day 
he loved David as his own soul. Yet it is a wonder. For 
Jonathan was the prince-royal ; and he was mature enough 
to know what such a victory in the eyes of all the kingdom 
foretokened. 

King Saul at once identified David with his court, and 
sent word to Jesse. 



Cjmtonilj Snnimg. 



AN EVIL EYE. 



LESSON. 

i Samuel xviii., xix. 1-17. 

WE now enter upon a new and distinct period of David's 
life. We can define the period with tolerable exact- 
ness. The word "youth" or "young man," describing 
David at the battle of Elah, includes the time of life from 
the end of childhood up to the marriageable age — from 
about eight or ten to about twenty years of age. It is 
applied to Joseph when he was at least eighteen years old, 
(Genesis xxxvii. 2 ; xli. 12), and to the "young man" 
Absalom after he led the rebellion against his father, to 
young Amalekites who were mounted warriors, and to the 
young prophet who anointed Jehu king. The general 
meaning seems to be a young man pretty well grown. We 
may safely assume that David was now about twenty years 
of age, possibly eighteen or nineteen, but more likely from 
twenty to twenty-two years- old. We know that he was 
thirty years old when he was publicly anointed king. We 
have therefore a pretty well-defined period from eight to 
ten years during which his persecutions by King Saul took 
place. We have already assumed that Saul is now about 
fifty years of age. and has been king ten years or more ; and 
that Jonathan was six or eight years older than David, 
that is, from twenty-six to thirty years old. For conveni- 
ence, it will be well to lay up this period of persecution 
in the memory as a round ten years. 

(Si) 



82 THIRTEENTH SUNDA Y. 

After the victory, King Saul at once promoted David. 
He set him over his men of war. He was probably next 
in rank or equal in rank to Abner, who, though Saul's 
uncle, was probably no older and may have been younger 
than Saul, for he is vigorous for years after Saul's death, 
and seems but a companion-in-age to Joab. The relief 
from his dread enemies and the universal joy at the victory 
were too great for Saul on the instant to become suspicious 
of the mere youth who had delivered the nation. But by 
the time the short campaign was over and the triumphant 
army came home, the people from every city and village 
poured forth. We must remember that the thickly strewn 
ruins show a dense population. There has been no such 
victory since the days of Samson ! Everything produces 
excitement and enthusiasm. Dismay has been turned to 
triumph. Defiance of God has been avenged. Taunts 
of the people's cowardice have been answered by heroic 
bravery. David has done it ! — with a sling and stone ! — 
a mere, ruddy, rosy boy ! The victory is so complete. 
Ekron and Gath shut fast ! 

The welkin rang with shouts of relief and joy. The 
women poured out from their seclusion. The tide of re- 
joicing burst all bounds of common restraint. With tab- 
rets, that is, tambourines, and " cymbals," Josephus says, 
and stringed instruments (rude guitars), they poured along, 
singing and dancing, to meet the conquerors as they mount 
up towards Gibeah. They sing in responses. Josephus 
has it : " The wives said, ' Saul has slain his thousands ! ' 
The virgins replied, ' And David his ten thousands ! ' " 
Every demonstration of tumultuous joy mingles in the 
welcome. 

Rut all this gave a terrible start to Saul. Instead of 
saying to himself, like a secure and generous monarch, 
" The victor is worthy of his praise ; let him have his day 
of glory, and then let him take his place. How can the 



AN EVIL EYE. 33 

people feel otherwise toward the brave little man ?" he 
thought he saw his royal fortune changing. " They put 
David in their minds higher than myself ! And what can 
he have more but the kingdom ?" The haunting thoughts 
must come again : "Thy kingdom shall not continue ! The 
Lord hath rejected thee / A neighbor of thine, that is bet- 
ter than thou ! Bethlehem ? the son of Jesse?' "And 
Saul eyed David from that day forward." His gloom and 
desperation against the decree of God returned. The 
demoniac spirit was upon him. He would see that no up- 
start should take the throne from his house ! 

David was now another man to the gloomy king than a 
mere charmer with music. Saul's self-will was now so far 
from being pleased with David's voice and skill that every 
tone roused his hate and will. His very acts of address 
would win the people. Twice he let fly his spear at him 
to nail him to the wall. Yet Saul was the coward. God 
was with David, and Saul knew it. God had left him, 
and he knew it. He bethought of another way to dispose 
of David — no uncommon way with kings to rid themselves 
of able and ambitious aspirants. He would give him a 
command which would peril his life. He ordered him, 
therefore, from the military court to the command of a thou- 
sand — a regiment. He played false with him with an offer 
to make him a member of the royal house by marriage. 
He offered him his daughter if he would fight valiantly the 
Lord's battles against the Philistines ; and, when the time 
for the marriage came, he had given Merab to Adriel. 
When he saw that David had no' strong ambition to be & 
member of his royal house, he made use of the love of 
Michal for David to take David's life. He bade his attend- 
ants represent to David the love of Michal for him, and 
his own love for him, and the love of all his court for him 
— to induce him to become his son-in-law. Openly and 
outwardly, it would seem as if the king saw the wisdom of 



84 " THIRTEENTH SUNDAY. 

a royal alliance with the coming king. When the ingenious 
David — possibly thinking that this was his motive — said 
that he was poor and could bring no dowry, he said, "A 
hundred Philistines shall be counted for dowry." 'When 
by this the martial ardor and pious valor of David were 
stirred against the doomed criminals of God's kingdom, 
and he brought the proof of two hundred slain Philistines 
as a dowry for his daughter, and Saul saw that God had 
saved him from his own "snare" — when Michal became 
his wife and a house was made theirs, and the king saw 
that it was a true and loving marriage, and now knew that, 
however the succession might go, it was certain that it 
would be in his own family, he yet turned the more fiercely 
against David. A male descent is, to be sure, the rule in 
all oriental kingdoms, but it is evident that the feeling in 
Saul was now that of a narrow and bitter envy. He grew 
every day more afraid and more jealous of the man whom 
God had blessed. David's discretion, his speech, his brav- 
ery in the very midst of all this, were winning the people 
and making him prominent in the land. 

It is a sufficient proof of the guilty stupidity and mad 
desperation of Saul's mind that the members of his family 
became David's friends. Michal admired and loved David 
before he made love to her. Jonathan seems to have un- 
derstood the real situation from the first. God had" decreed 
that himself should not be king. To that decree he 
bowed, and in pious obedience waited for the new appoint- 
ment. The graces and abilities of David challenged the 
love of his own heroic nature. Extraordinary gifts of God 
were on him. He evidently saw in him the "neighbor" 
to whom the throne belonged by divine bestowal. He 
sought a covenant with David, and made it. The nature 
of the covenant we may infer from the symbolic acts with 
which Jonathan sealed it. He took off his robe, and put 
it on David. He gave him his own prince's garments, 



AN EVIL EYE. gc; 

girding him with his girdle and arming him with his sword 
and bow. If any prince-royal now should do the like to 
his friend in circumstances like these, there would be only 
one inference for us. These acts must signify that he un- 
derstood that David stood in his own place as successor 
to the throne. Perhaps by this symbolic language — a lan- 
guage common in the poetic East — he delicately signified 
to David that his friendship fully comprehended the fact 
of his becoming king. Like an older brother to a younger, 
he advised David to keep out of Saul's way. In David's 
absence he intercedes with Saul for him. He rehearsed 
the wonderful victory over Goliath, and magnified the 
Lord's mighty salvation by David's daring. He kept 
David informed of Saul's temper towards him. And he 
brought him back again, the king mollified, and David 
glad for Jonathan's sake. 

An equal test of Michal's devotion came. David came 
back victorious from another rout of the Philistines ; and 
the "evil spirit" glared again in the king's jealous eye. 
As David played with his hand, the king lifted his huge 
form and hurled his spear to crush the young warrior. 
The power exerted set the spear fast in the wall ; but 
David escaped to his own house. Now came Michal's 
turn. Will her love for her father or her devotion to her 
brother as the royal successor, or her love for David, pre- 
vail ? Her evasions and falsehoods and artifices to save 
David are perfectly characteristic of oriental royal life, 
such a mixture is there of duplicity in time of temptation, 
of ambition, of wit, and of affection. Perhaps, after all, 
since David is hers, she would rather her husband than 
her brother would be king. And she is true to David, 
and her father is too willing to believe her when she says, 
" He said to me, Let me go : why make me kill you ?" 

And thus the malice of an evil eye and the love of ripen- 
ing friendship grew on during that first year at Gibeah ! 



Jfmirtcentlj JStonbajf. 



DAVID'S FIRST PSALMS. 



LESSON. 

i Samuel xix. 11-24 i xx I Psalms xi. lix. (see titles.) 

THE eight or ten years of David's persecution by King 
Saul may be divided into three parts : the first, one 
year or thereabout at Gibeah, when Saul's jealousy was 
inflamed ; the second, the period of his flight, comprising 
about six or eight years, during which Saul kept up his 
pursuit ; the third, the year or so when he went over to 
the Philistines to save his life. We have already watched 
the growing jealousy of the evil eye. We now come to 
the flight and persecution, during which the persecuted 
David, bruised and mellowed by providential afflictions, 
sang many a psalm of praise and thanks to God for mar- 
vellous protection and deliverance. Some of these psalms 
— we cannot suppose them to be all— we now have, sub- 
lime and beautiful in the pious trust of a high-tossed and 
deeply troubled soul. 

After David's flight from Michal's window, to whom 
should he go, in the heavy troubles which began to 
press down his young spirit, but to the aged prophet and 
Seer. We suppose Ramah to have been not more than a 
mile or a mile and a half north from Gibeah." * Samuel 
takes him to " Naioth." Where was " Naioth in Ramah," 
to which David and Samuel went together ? 



* See map on page 51. 
(86) 



DA VID 'S FIRST PSALMS. $y 

The word "Naioth" means "habitations," and has long 
been interpreted as meaning the dwellings of a school of 
prophets over which Samuel was "father" or "master." 
There is no difference of opinion now in respect to this. 
Elijah afterwards had such a school at Gilgal and Jericho.* 
Music and sacred. minstrelsy were practised and no doubt 
taught, as well as the civil, ceremonial, and spiritual law 
and its interpretation. The " company of prophets " that 
met Saul after he was privately anointed came down " from 
the high place, with a psaltery and a tabret and a pipe be- 
fore them" as they prophesied. Here at " Naioth in 
Ramah," that is Naioth at or near Raraah, was such a 
company, and Samuel "appointed" over them. Here 
these younger prophets prophesied, f Into their company 
David now came, with the aged "father" of the school. 
Here, perhaps, he indited the " good matter " of a psalm, 
the first of his own, preserved for the church, as we shall 
soon see — the gifts of music and of song uniting with the 
divine inspiration of his poetic genius. To this place, not 
two miles away, if our conjecture be right, the king sent 
over his messengers when he heard that David had fled 
thither from Michal's house. God has his defence for his 
servant ! Once, twice, three times he pours upon the 
king's messengers the prophetic spirit, so that while they 
come to take David they are put into sympathy with the 
prophets. Saul himself comes, first to Sechu — on the way 
to Ramah, we suppose — where was " a great well," asking 
for Samuel and David ! and then to Ramah, then to the 
prophets' house. His attendants, of course, accompany 
him. He too is disarmed of curses and of weapons, like 
Balak and Balaam, by the compelling prophetic gift, until 

* See 2 Kings ii. 3, 5, 7. 

f Compare these prophetic gifts with the prophetic gifts of the 
New Testament in 1 Corinthians xii. and xiv. 



g 8 FOUR TEEN TH S UNDA Y. 

the amazed people ask again, as they did years before, "Is 
Saul also among the prophets ? " 

In the midst of such elevating influences as these, we 
may find the answer to the question : When were the first 
psalms of David written ? A nature so poetical as his 
must have found expression at an early age. The " youth," 
so independent and resolute in defence of his flock and in 
attack of the nation's enemies, could hardly have been 
less independent and vigorous in the use of his undoubted 
poetic abilities. It was his cunning in playing and his 
prudence in speech which brought him the first invitation 
to the king's court. Many a fragmentary strain and hymn 
must then have floated for ever away with the zephyr upon 
which they were breathed. The anointment also to a 
lofty career appointed by God, must have defined more 
clearly and aroused more fully every faculty of mind and 
soul. Many a spiritual song, sung only to the rocks and 
to the sheep, was laid up in the associations of his poetic 
mind, to be drawn forth again by future events and occa- 
sions. 

We are not at loss, however, for some of his first public 
hymns of praise to God ; or, perhaps, rather for some of 
his first hymns which afterward were adopted into public use. 

Among the seventy or eighty psalms of David's com- 
position in the book of Psalms, are three which may be 
referred to his early life. One of the three was certainly 
written or substantially composed just at the time of his 
life at which we have now arrived. Two of the three are 
conjectured to have been written during his shepherd-life ; 
and the third to have originated just before his flight from 
Saul. 

It will be impossible for us, as we go on, to fix certainly 
the precise place of every psalm in the life of David ; but 
it will be a real service to ourselves if we can locate some 
of them with tolerable exactness. 



DA VID 'S FIRST PSALMS. gg 

Let us see whether these three psalms belong to this 
early period of David's life. 

First, let us look at the psalm which, most of all, is 
associated with the thoughts and feelings of his shepherd- 
life : 

" The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want," etc. 

— See the Twenty-third Psalm. 

This exquisite psalm is beautifully appropriate to David's 
shepherd-life. It seems like the spontaneous and natural 
outflow of such a period. There is nothing in it too 
mature for that early time ; for poets in all ages have 
commenced in youth to express mature thought in musical 
cadence. And if it should be said that psalms for the 
public worship of the universal church were inspired, and 
surely, therefore, no person would have been permitted to 
compose them until he had reached the priestly age, there 
is a twofold answer : first, that from the time of Samuel's 
private anoinment at Bethlehem, " the Spirit of God came 
upon David from that day forward ; " and secondly, that 
the titles of some of his psalms show that they were com- 
posed before he became king at the priestly age. One was 
composed " when the Ziphim came and said to Saul, ' Doth 
not David hide himself with us?'" (liv.) ; another, after 
Doeg came and told Saul that David had been to Ahime- 
lech's house (lii.) ; another, "when he fled from Saul in a 
cave" (lvii.) ; and another, " when the Philistines took 
him in Gath" (lvi.) ; all of which events happened before 
he reached the mature and priestly and kingly age of 
thirty years. 

Beautiful^ however, as it may be to associate the com- 
position of the Twenty-third Psalm with David's shepherd- 
life, and to thinfc: of it as the first sparkling spring from 
which the deep, broad river of his psalmody flowed, there 
are one or two expressions which forbid us to locate it there. 



go FO UR TEENTH S UNDA Y. 

It would hardly have been natural for him at that early 
day to say, " I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever," 
while the tabernacle was at Nob and the ark at Kirjoth- 
Jearim and the worship scattered and broken. And we 
cannot think that he would have sung in calm and happy 
triumph, " Thou preparest a table before me in the pres- 
ence of mine enemies" when the only enemies which he 
had yet encountered were the lion and the bear. When, 
however, he had established the worship in Jerusalem 
years afterward, and had been through the terrible flights 
and fights into which he was forced by Saul, and God had 
many times spread his table when Philistines and Amale- 
kites would have snatched away his life, then he could 
gather up the happy and fearful memories of the sheep- 
folds and hiding-places about Bethlehem and Judah, and 
write in the abundant calm of his tranquil soul : 



1 Thou preparest a table before me 
In the presence of mine enemies ; 
Thou anointest my head with oil. 
My cup runneth over. 

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. 
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." 



We prefer, therefore, to dismiss the Twenty-third Psalm 
to a later period of his kingly life, when the brooks and 
fields and dark ravines and lurking-places of Bethlehem 
and Judah gave his memory happy imagery for his sweet 
song of repose on God. 

The Eleventh Psalm is a hymn of confidence in God, 
when timid and dejected friends urged David to flee. It 
has been supposed to spring from Saul's or Absalom's 
first persecutions, when David's friends represented his 
affairs as desperate. If we connect it with one of these 
persecutions, we see in it an expression of sublime con- 
fidence in God as a sure Defender of the righteous and a 



DA VID 'S FIRST PSALMS. g r 

sure Punisher of the wicked. Although we cannot be sure 
that it was written then, yet we may be sure that we do 
not magnify too much the spirit of trust in God which 
David already showed, by locating this psalm just at this 
point in his life. We must recall the short history of 
David at Saul's house. During that short time, acquaint- 
ances and friends have increased around him. They 
remembered his musical charms over Saul at the first. 
They saw his valor and abilities as a champion at Elah, 
and they saw Saul's estimate of them. They detected the 
king's evil eye. Even the people of Gibeah, not intimate 
with the internal house of the king, became aware of it. 
The public attention which David received in the first 
rejoicing ; the promotion with which he had been honored ; 
his station afterward nearer the people, at the head of his 
own regiment ; his bearing and wise behavior " as he went 
out and came in before the people " — which probably sig- 
nifies a greater familiarity with them than the haughty 
Saul had shown — and for which " all Israel and Judah 
loved him ; " the story of his betrothal to Merab, and of 
his betrayal by Saul ; and of his marriage to Michal, and 
the dangers by which he won her dowry — all these created 
a quick and growing personal interest in him, and brought 
many persons into personal relations with him. The in- 
creasing jealousy and deepening malice of the king, his 
snares and strategems to take David's life, his directions 
to his servants and to Jonathan to kill David, alarmed and 
terrified those who loved the young man. Even Jonathan 
told him to hide himself in a secret place ; and we can 
imagine what the advice of more timid souls would be. 
Flight they thought the only safety, and that quickly. But 
in David's heart was a profound security, both in respect 
to himself and in respect to God's sovereign care over 
kingly haters and ungodly conspirators against his divine 
plans, when he sang in reply to these timid counsellors : 



9 2 FO UR TEEN TH S UNDA Y. 

" In the Lord^do I put my trust. Why say ye to me, 
1 Flee like a bird to your mountain ; 
For, lo ! the wicked bend their bow, 
They make ready their arrows on the string, 
To shoot in secret at the upright in heart. 
If the pillars be broken down, 
What can the righteous do ' ? 

" The Lord is in his holy palace : 
The Lord's throne is in heaven : 

His eyes behold, his eyelids prove the children of men. 
The Lord trieth the righteous ; 

But the wicked and the lover of violence his soul hateth. 
Upon the wicked he will rain lightning. 

Fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup. 
For the Lord is righteous ; he loveth righteousness ; 
The upright shall see his face." — Noyes's Tra?islation. 

If this was the first of David's psalms which was after- 
ward adopted into public use in the tabernacle service, 
David's spirit of pious confidence begins to do its impor- 
tant work at the very time that he becomes a public and 
noted man. Persecution makes conspicuous both the man 
and his piety; and Saul's malice was made to do God's 
beautiful will. 

But as we cannot be sure that this psalm was written 
just at this time, we may take another psalm which does 
stand at the veiy extrance of his public career. The title 
of the Fifty-ninth Psalm gives us a hymn composed by 
David "when Saul sent and they watched the house to 
kill him." In this psalm is the same sublime and pious 
confidence which David expresses in the Eleventh. The 
thoughts are thoughts of trust in God, of personal inno- 
cence, of certain victory over enemies, of necessary justice 
upon malicious and obdurate foes. The king's messengers 
came at night ; they took up their watch outside the door ; 
they must have been of Saul's own temper, for Michal 
saw that they were in earnest ; perhaps they were turbu- 
lent and insolent, as such messengers in the East some- 
times are, as they pace the streets, boasting of their prey ; 



DA VID 'S FIRST PSALMS. go 

the morning light— curses upon him ! — would put him in 
their power. "Through a window" — it may be within 
the rough sound of their voices and oaths — "Michal let 
him down, and he went and fled, and escaped," with that 
solemn feeling in his heart which was already forming into 
words as he took his way to Ramah : 

" Deliver me from my enemies, O my God ! 
Defend me from them that rise up against me ! 
Deliver me from the doers of iniquity, 
And save me from men of blood ! 
For lo ! they lie in wait for my life : 
The mighty are gathered together against me, 
Without any offence or fault of mine, O Jehovah ! 
Without any offence of mine, they run and prepare themselves. 
Awake to help me and behold ! 

" Do thou, O Jehovah, God of hosts, God of Israel, 
Awake to punish all the nations ! 
Show no mercy to any wicked transgressors ! 
Let them return at evening ; 
Let them howl like dogs, 
And go round about the city ! 

" Behold ! with their mouths they belch out malice : 
Swords are upon their lips, 
' For who,' say they, ' will hear ? ' 
Yet thou, O Lord ! wilt laugh at them. 
Thou wilt hold all the nations in derision ! 
O my strength, to thee will I look ! 
For God is my defence. 
My merciful God will come to my aid : 
God will let me look with joy upon my enemies. 

" Slay them not, lest my people forget. 
Scatter them by thy power, and cast them down, 
O Lord, our shield ! • 

All the words of their lips are sin. 
Let them be overtaken in their pride, 
For the curses and the falsehoods which they utter ! 
Consume them in thy wrath : consume them that they be no more, 
That they may know that God ruleth in Jacob, 
Even to the ends of the earth ! 
Let them return at evening ; 
Let them howl like dogs : 
Let them wander about for food, 
When they have passed the night unsatisfied. 



94 FO UR TEEN Til S UNDA V. 

" But I will sing of thy power : 

Yea, in the morning will I sing aloud of thy mercy ; 

For thou hast been my defence, 

My refuge in the day of my distress. 

To thee, O my Strength ! will I sing ; 

For God is my defence: a God of mercy to me." — Napes'* Translation. 

It is highly confirmatory of the composition of this 
psalm at that time that David went immediately to " Nai- 
oth" in Ramah. It was the next morning or the next 
day, there can be no doubt, that he found the way to 
Ramah to Samuel ; and perhaps it was on the same day, 
while the king was wrangling with his daughter over the 
sick image and bolster in the bed, Samuel and David to- 
gether went to Naioth. There in the midst of the proph- 
ets and the inspired and prophetic gifts of that school, 
where soon afterward the Spirit of God compelled even 
Saul's messengers and Saul himself to prophesy, nothing 
is more appropriate than to suppose that David also was 
unusually inspired. The thoughts which he had had the 
night before in Gibeah and when he fled over the hill to 
Ramah, when God was his profound support, may have 
been put then into verse. And when the tabernacle ser- 
vice was fully reformed by him after Jerusalem was taken, 
the psalm may have been retouched by the kingly poet, 
and delivered to the chief musician of the tabernacle- 
choir, with directions to sing to the tune of " Do not 
Destroy," or " Al-taschith j" and entitled like others a 
" Golden psalm," or " Michtam " ? 

Who can tell but that from the young prophets then in 
the school at Ramah came Asaph, and Heman, and Ethan, 
and Jeduthun, and the sons of Korah — one, or some, or 
all of them ? 



Jfiftonflj Sunimg, 



DECEPTION AND FALSEHOOD. 



LESSON. 

i. Samuel xxi. ; Matthew xii. 3, 4 ; Mark li. 25, 26 ; Luke vi. 3, 4 : Psalm xxxiv. 

WHEN David left Jonathan, he went to Nob, a 
" city of the priests," where Ahimelech was high- 
priest. Four things seem to show that the taber- 
nacle was now at Nob. The first is that Ahimelech 
wore the ephod, for he had it there. The ephod was one 
of the most sacred vestments of the high-priest, covering 
the body from the shoulders to the waist, and supporting 
the breast-plate with its twelve stones, with the blue-bor- 
dered " robe of the ephod " under it next to the white 
tesselated shirt or tunic. "The ephod" sometimes means 
all the upper dress of the high-priest — that is, the ephod, 
the blue robe of the ephod, the tunic, and the breast-plate, 
which were, in fact, the distinctive dress of the high-priest, 
the mitre only excepted. The second thing is that there 
were at Nob at least eighty-five priests who wore " the linen 
ephod," and who were held in reverence by the people, as 
is shown by the fact that Saul's own soldiers held them in 
reverence. The third thing is that the table of shew- 
bread was at Nob. And the fourth thing, that the shew- 
breadwas "before the Lord." These things seem to show 
conclusively that the tabernacle was at Nob, the ark itself 
remaining at Kirjath-jearim till several years after David 
became king. 

Where, now, was Nob ? It is quite certain that it was near 

(95) 



g<5 FIFTEENTH SUN DA Y. 

Jebus, and on the north of it, but no historian or traveller 
at present can tell us where. It has been located about a 
mile north or north-east from Jebus, somewhere on the range 
of Mount Olivet, as that range sweeps around to the north ; 
but the most probable supposition now is that Mizpeh and 
Nob were the same place, four miles north-west of Jebus.* 
From Nob you could see Jebus ; for at Nob, in later days, the 
Assyrian shakes his hand at Jerusalem. f It must have been 
from three to four miles from Ramah to Nob ; and when 
David came, with some young men with him, he was weary 
and hungry. When the high-priest saw that David and 
his party were without any other officer of Saul's 
court, observing, no doubt, too, their fatigue and haste, he 
was afraid. He knew too well what was the general pos- 
ture of affairs over at Gibeah. It was his duty to know 
what was the situation of the government. He knew, 
therefore, what Saul's attitude was towards David; and 
he feared lest David would involve him in the alleged 
treason against the king. " Why art thou alone, and no 
man with thee?" he demanded. David boldly told him 
that he had come on the king's business. It was a secret 
errand ; and the high-priest must give him food. On the 



* Lieutenant Conder, of the English Palestine Exploration 
Expedition, has recently assigned strong reasons for the identity 
of these two places. Mizpeh means a watch-tower, Nob a high 
place. The two names never occur in one passage. Both are 
described in a like manner as places of military and religious 
importance, near Ramah and Gibeon. One name might easily 
have been applied at one time, and another at another. The 
Hebrew word Nob is simply N'b with the vowel, and may easily 
have become transmuted into the present Arabic Neby, applied 
to the high lookout mountain, Neby- Samuel {the Prophet Samuel), 
from which Jerusalem is visible, and which is supposed to be 
Mizpeh. The two names are therefore attached to the same place, 
on the maps on pages 16 and 51. 

\ Isaiah x. 32 



DECEPTION AND FALSEHOOD. gj 

assurance that they were all ceremonially pure, the priest 
gave them the only bread which he had — the hallowed 
bread which had been removed from the shew-table, and 
which no one but the priest could lawfully eat — an act 
which the Jews afterwards so justified that our Lord could 
appeal to it confidently as an argument for the proper 
observance of the Sabbath. 

But what shall we say of David's representation to 
Ahimelech ? Was that a bold falsehood — that he was on 
the king's business ? Was there some way in which he 
justified his representation to his conscience and to God ? 
We can conceive that David might have said to himself : 
" It-is clearly God's design that I shall be king. I com- 
mand myself on this business, and say, Let no man know 
where we go. I appoint my servants to places as I please. 
It is true. Independent of Saul, I now act in God's name 
as king." Or we can conceive that David might have said, 
" God is king according to the old government. He has 
rejected Saul. What I have done, I have done for him. 
And he hath commanded me here and onwards ; and even 
his sacred bread is for my sustenance." But whatever 
may have been his specious reasoning — even if such 
reasoning might have run quick through a fertile brain 
— David did deceive Ahimelech — a deception which cost 
the high-priest his life. We must not justify David in a 
falsehood, even where he falsified to save his own life, 
particularly when to save himself he brought death on 
another person. It is more probable that the plain truth 
is, that under the pressure of great danger he forgot the 
God in whom he had trusted, and spoke falsely. If he 
was innocent at heart and God could approve of it, he 
approved. If he was guilty of sin, he repented of it, and 
God approved of his repentance ; for soon after, as we shall 
see, he composed another psalm which took its place in 
the inspired psalmody. 



gS FIFTEENTH SUN DA Y. 

David, however, carried out the deception. " Have 
you weapons here," he said, " spear or sword ? The 
king's business requires haste, and I came without my 
own." " The sword of Goliath, whom you slew in the 
valley of Elah, lies, wrapped up, behind the priests' robes 
— the trophy of the Lord's triumph." 

David grasps at any hope of defence. No time is to be 
lost. The stripling for whom Saul's armor was too heavy, 
now is eager for Goliath's sword. " There is none like 
that ; give it me." But before he hastened away, he 
noticed there, looking on, one of Saul's officers, the chief 
keeper of the king's flocks, detained at the tabernacle by 
some vow or ceremonial purification — an Edomite, prob- 
ably a proselyte — from whom David feared mischief 
might arise. 

Was it now this very sword which turned David's 
thoughts to Gath, where Goliath lived ? Saul was on his 
track, he was sure. Where could he go to get out of his 
power ? Not to Bethlehem, to involve that city in revolt 
against the king, and his family in destruction. A bold 
and brave man, Goliath's sword in hand, he took his way 
to Goliath's city. Down the hills he went, he and his trusty 
few, past the strong walls of Jebus and its defiant people, 
past the Zorah and Timnath of Samson, past the valley of 
Elah, not doubting that the God that delivered Samson from 
Gaza could deliver him from King Achish and the walls of 
Gath. It may be, that he thought he would " pass for one 
of the many Hebrew fugitives who for one cause or 
another were continually falling away to the Philistines." 
Perhaps he offered himself as a servant or a minstrel at 
the court of Achish. And he laid away among the rocks 
perhaps, or gave to one of his friends Goliath's sword, 
until he should know what to do. 

But now it was David's time to fear. He had in him 
the guilty " conscience which makes cowards of us all." 



DECEPTION AND FALSEHOOD. qq 

He must have thought of Doeg looking on at Nob ; of the 
danger to which he had exposed the high-priest. The con- 
sciousness of his falsehood at the very time when he took 
the sacred bread for his life, took away his courage, as 
Samson was shorn of his strength when he forsook God. 
The servants of King Achish suspected who he was. They 
had either seen him in one of his fights against their 
people, or they detected him from his bearing or the com- 
munications of his party. When they said, " Is not this 
David, the king of the land " — mark their version of the 
contest, " the king of the land"; the story which had gone 
abroad and had come down to them — " did they not sing 
in their dances, saying Saul hath slain his thousands and 
David his ten thousands ? " David saw their suspicions, 
and he was afraid. But his quick wit saved him. If it 
was David, it should be David befooled and mad ! And 
so he diverted their suspicion, and behaved so much like a 
fool that the king was vexed with his servants for bringing 
him in. "Ye see the man is mad. Do I need a mad 
man ? Why do you bring him to my house ? " And so 
glad enough he got away from the city. 

After he had escaped, however, and had once had time 
to reflect upon his dangers at Gibeah, at Ramah, at 
Naioth, when with Jonathan, and while waiting for three 
days rest at Nob, and at Gath, when he had had time to 
think upon his own sins under the pressure of terror, and 
upon the misery in which he was "sore afraid" of King 
Achish, and had received the pardon given to the contrite 
spirit; he gave his grateful acknowledgment of God's 
goodness, in the form of 

A PSALM OF DAVID, 
When he feigned himself mad before King Achish,* who drove him away, and 
he departed. ■ 

I will bless Jehovah at all times ; 

His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 



* Ahimelech, in the English version, is by some writers considered a corrup- 
tion for Aki(sh)-melech, z. «-., Achish-king. (See the margin in the English 



100 FIFTEENTH SUNDA Y. 

In the Lord doth my soul boast, 
Let the afflicted hear and rejoice ! 

****** 
I sought the Lord, and He heard me, 
And delivered me from all my fears. 
****** 

The angels of the Lord encamp around those who fear Him, 

And deliver them. 

****** 

The righteous cry and the Lord heareth, 

And delivereth them from all their troubles. 

The Lord is near to them that are of a broken heart, 

And heareth such as are of a contrite spirit. 

Great are the afflictions of the righteous, 

But the Lord delivereth him from them all ; 

He guardeth all his bones ; 

Not one of them is broken, etc. 

Thirty-fourth Psalm ; Noyes's Translation. 



Stetatlj Suntmir* 



OUTLAWS AND CAVES. 



LESSON. 

i Samuel xxii. 1-4 ; 2 Samuel xxiii. 13-19 ; 1 Chronicles xi. 15-21 ; Psalm Ivi. 

BOTH Gath and Adnllam are places not certainly 
known in our day. But they were both in " the low 
country," for Adullam is one of the cities of the low 
country in the time of Joshua,*, and Gath and Adullam 
are mentioned together as "fenced cities" which King 
Rehoboam, Solomon's son, built, that is, rebuilt. Modern 
travellers, however, are pretty well agreed that Gath is 
where it is located on the map. (See page 74). A mile 
or two south from this place is a labyrinth of caverns and 
pits, and six miles farther south are still larger excavations 
of the same curious character. But M. Ganneau, of the 
English Palestine Exploration Survey, locates Adullam, 
with great probability, at Aid-el- Mia, on the hill-side near 
Socho, where natural caves have been enlarged by human 
excavations — six or seven miles east, up from Gath. An- 
other immense cavern over the mountains, between Beth- 
lehem and the Dead Sea, south-west from Bethlehem — a 
labyrinth of chambers — the monks say is the Cave of Adul- 
lam. But the Scriptures plainly place it with Gath in the 
" low country of Judah." It is, therefore, much more 
likely that the hill-side near Elah was the place to which 



* Joshua xv. 35. 

(101) 



I0 2 SIXTEENTH SUNDA Y. 

David hastened when he left Gath. Here he would have 
been on the border of the Philistine country. If the king 
should come here, he might have the Philistines to face as 
well as himself. Here, in his desolation and distress, we 
may place the psalm composed " when the Philistines 
took him in Gath," or had taken him in Gath ! It must 
have been either just after he first gained a residence in 
Gath, fearing anil trembling at the hazard,, or more likely 
when he had escaped to Adullam, driven and at his- wit's 
end, from foes above and foes below. 

A PSALM OF DAVID, WHEN THE PHILISTINES TOOK HIM 
IN GATH. 

Afterwards dedicated to the leader of music, " to be sung to the tune of ' The 
Dumb Dove among Strangers." 

Have pity upon me, O God, for man panteth for my life ; 

My adversary daily oppresseth me ! 

Mine enemies daily pant for my life, 

And many are they who war proudly against me. 

When I am in fear 

I will put my trust in Thee ! 

I will glory in the promise of God. 

In God do I put my trust ; I will not fear : 

What can flesh do to me ? 

Every day they wrest my words. 

All their thoughts are against me for evil. 

They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they watch my 

steps, 
Lying in wait for my life, 
Shall they escape by their iniquity : 
In Thine anger cast down the people, O God ! 
Count Thou my wanderings ! 
Put my tears into Thy bottle ! 
Are they not recorded in Thy book ? 

When I cry to Thee, my enemies shall turn back ; 

This I know, that God is for me. 

I will glory in the promise of God, 

I will glory in the promise of Jehovah. 

In God do I put my trust ; I will not fear ; 

What can man do unto me? 

Thy vows are upon me, O God ! 

I will render praises unto Thee, 

For Thou hast delivered me from death, 

Yea, my feet from falling, 

That I may walk before God in the light of the living. 

— Noyes's Translation. 



OUTLA WS AND CA VES. I0 3 

The news of David's flight has gone quickly to Bethle- 
hem. Either David himself has sent hasty word, or" the 
story of alarm to Jesse and his family has quickly run from 
!N"ob or Gibeah to the little city. Nothing was more prob- 
able than that the enraged king would seek David at 
Bethlehem. Indeed, Jonathan had left the king to infer 
that David had gone there. The king's madness would 
certainly strike at the whole family. So soon, then, as they 
knew that David was hiding at Adullam, the whole family 
hastened down, his father and mother, brothers and sis- 
ters, and his old playmates, his nephews. 

Meanwhile, at the spreading of the news, the people 
flocked to him by scores, and at length by hundreds ; but 
a motley and disagreeable crowd of them at first. The mal- 
contents of the kingdom were the first to rally to the new 
leader. They were not those who stood for a principle nor 
for the new Anointed, but those in distress and in debt, 
and in a bitter and discontented mind. They selfishly 
hoped for relief from a new state of things. At length 
David found himself surrounded by about four hundred 
men, a good portion of whom would, no doubt, have been 
glad to take up a wild life under a captain like him who 
had killed Goliath. This must have been painful and dis- 
agreeable enough to David ; for, besides being forced to 
be at the head of a band of outlaws, there would be some 
reason to charge him with sedition and treason. The 
whole four hundred could have been hidden away, upon 
an occasion, in the caverns which we have described. 

Among the four hundred at these "caves," Abishai, 
Zeruiah's son, is mentioned, and two companions of his. 
This large company David probably organized — in the 
usual organization of the kingdom — with captains over 
hundreds and over tens. To this there may be allusion, 
when it is said that " three captains over the thirty " went 
down to David in the cave. 



104 SIXTEENTH SUNDA Y. 

While David was in Adullam, as we discover from the 
second book of Samuel, and the book of Chronicles, there 
was some stir among the Philistines. A troop of them 
went up and encamped in the valley of the Giants, which 
is supposed to be a little valley just south of Jebus, along 
the west side of the Bethlehem road. They had even 
penetrated to Bethlehem, and made a military post there 
before the city, a thing not very difficult to do, as Jebus 
was a Canaanite town. Very likely the removal of so 
strong a family as that of Jesse had uncovered that place 
to attack. It was now harvest time. Brave as David 
was, he was hot and faint. He longed for the place of 
his childhood. " Oh ! " said he, " that I might drink of 
the water at the well of the gate of Bethlehem." It was a 
wish to arouse the fierce bravery of the Bethlehemites. 
Forthwith, Abishai, his nephew, with the all-conquering 
energy of his mother, leads off his two fellow-heroes, and, 
defying the Philistines before Bethlehem, bring the iden- 
tical water down the hills for David to drink of it. " May 
God forbid," said David, " that I should do this thing. 
Shall I drink the blood of those men who have put their 
lives in jeopardy for me?" He saw that it would be 
not only an unwise but cruel thing to establish such a pre- 
cedent — to peril the lives of brave men to gratify a mere 
passing wish. As a precious thing, therefore, represent- 
ing human blood and human life, he poured out the water 
as a free libation unto God. 

Bethlehem, no longer home ! What shall he do with his 
aged father and mother, if Saul, with a troop, shoulcl 
come ? The conflict is no longer a conflict with David, 
but with David's house. He quickly decides Adullam is 
no place for them. The land of Ruth ! Naomi, in famine, 
found refuge there, and so may Ruth's grandchildren in 
their son's distress. Imagine the hasty company, then, in 
oriental robes and turbans, with long spears, and ill-as- 



OUTLA WS AND CA VES. I0 ^ 

sorted weapons, the women veiled and on mules, perhaps 
a camel or two and a good number of mules in the com- 
pany, making their way southward ; first crossing the fre- 
quent and shallow ravines, then along an open valley, then 
westward up a narrower valley over gravel and rock, and 
between terraced slopes and up deep glens and steep zig- 
zags, along ridges looking down on green fields — to Hebron; 
stopping after their half-day's journey for hasty rest and 
food ; then filing southward, cutting the hills obliquely, 
crossing an elevated plain shut in by higher hills, except 
where it looks off toward the Salt Sea, passing the busy 
harvesters in the wheat-fields — for there is one of the finest 
regions of " the hill country," and it was harvest-time — 
past Ziph and Carmel, to which David is soon to return ; 
over a ridge from which the deep chasm but not the water 
of the Salt Sea can be seen ; through a dried and wilder- 
ness region, in which we may imagine them after another 
half-day's journey encamping for the night, and discussing 
how many or how few shall go on out of the boundaries 
of the tribe into the land of Moab. In the morning, see 
a smaller company, at easier pace, mounting a small swell 
of barren land, from which they take backward glances at 
the spreading desert region of " the south," then making 
their slow and circuitous way down a steep declivity seven 
or eight hundred feet, and across another broad tract from 
which Moab, with its peaks and green ravines, becomes 
more distinctly visible as they look over the white hills 
and fantastic ridges of chalk and limestone between 
them and the Salt Sea; then across that "frightful" 
and " hideous desert " ; then down another steep, rocky 
ledge seven or eight hundred feet, to the whitish, marly 
bottom which borders the Salt Sea, keeping a sharp look- 
out for Edomite and Amalekite Bedouins, as they hide 
their camp-fire in a wild gorge shut in by cliffs of hardened 
marl ; then along the salt region, the mountains and hills 



io6 



SIXTEENTH SUNDA Y. 



salt around them, their path salt beneath them, until turn- 
ing the end of the Salt Sea, with fragments of tradi- 
tions about Zoar and Lot from the aged Jesse, 
as his mule stops to crop the verdure of the Salt 
Sea peninsula, they mount up the steep path along 
the green ravine, at the 
head of which was Kir- 
Moab. There they look 
back on the rocky terraces 
rising one above another 
from the Salt Sea to He- 
bron, along the elevated 
table of which lies the 
strength — now, alas ! the 
cruel strength — of Israel's 
king. 

This city of Kir-Moab 
was, we suppose, the Miz- 
peh (watch-tower) of Moab 
to which David took his 
aged parents, and to the 
king of which he said : 
" Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth 
and be with thee, till I know what God will do for me." 
What reference David or Jesse may have made to Chilion, 
and Ruth, and Naomi, or whether descendants of Mahlon 
and Orpah, or of her father's house, took interest in these 
Israelite kindred we cannot know. But with oriental hos- 
pitality, the king received the aged pair, who were thus 
made safe from Saul's mad jealousy and hostility. 




Stbuditnib Bxxnbnv. 



THE HIGH-PRIEST TRANSFERRED TO 
DAVID. 



LESSON. 

i Samuel xxii. 5-23 ; xxiii. 6 ; Psalm lii. 

HERE in Mizpeh of Moab, where, in peace and 
security, he can look down upon the distracted 
land of yonder miserable ruler, David seems inclined 
to stay. But God has put into his company one of 
his own messengers to instruct him. The prophet Gad, 
afterwards called "the King's Seer," and "David's Seer," 
has been compared to Elijah, so suddenly does he appear 
here in David's presence. Whether he continued with 
David in his wanderings or not, we know that he wrote 
a book of the acts of David, and that he was sent to 
David in his old age, with the choice of one of three 
punishments for the sin of numbering the people. It is 
natural to suppose, therefore, that he was in later days con- 
nected in some way with the royal establishment. 

Did " Gad the Seer " come from the school of Samuel 
the Seer at Naioth in Ramah ? It _ is quite possible. As 
David's flight was so intimately connected with Naioth, 
and David came to Nob in company with young men, Gad 
might have been one of the " young men." Perhaps 
Samuel sent him privately to Mizpeh. He could not have 
been much older than David, for he was living when David 
was old. He might have gone with him to Gath or to 

(107) 



1 08 SE VENTEENTH SUN DA Y. 

Adullam, or for David on some side errand, like an errand 
of alarm to Bethlehem. At any rate, he had already 
joined David when he was at Mizpeh of Moab ; and he 
spoke as a prophet, and as if by divine authority. " Abide 
not in the hold" — this high and strong fortress, either of 
the city or the wilds of Moab — " depart, and get thee into 
the land of Judah." It was not seemly that a man, an- 
ointed by God to be king over His people, should hide in 
a land expressly given to strangers. So " David departed, 
and came into the forest of Hareth." 

Where the forest of Hareth was, is not known. As 
David undoubtedly came from Moab around the lower 
end of the Salt Sea, and as Keilah, the next place to which 
he goes, was not far from Adullam, and as David is di- 
rected to "go down to Keilah," which would have been 
the proper direction for advancing from the heights about 
Hebron towards Adullam, we may assume that the forest 
of Hareth was an abundant woodland somewhere well up 
the heights, between the Salt Sea and Hebron.* Here, 
then, in the wood and wilderness, was the encampment of 
David, the four hundred gradually swelling in numbers, as 
others made their way to him ; for at Keilah he had six 
hundred men. David is firmly resolved to act on the de- 
fensive ; but for this, and for attack on the common enemies 
of the nation, we may suppose the military organization 
and drill go on. 

Saul, who is never alert, except when mightily aroused, 
is still in Gibeah. He is ready now to pursue David. His 
headquarters are under a tamarisk tree just over at Ramah. 
He has his spear in his hand — symbol of war — and his 
captains stand about him. He could not have failed to 



*M. Ganneau thinks the proper rendering, " City of. Hareth," 
and locales the City of Khorith at Khoras, halfway from Hebron 
to Adullam, as on map on page 16. 



THE HIGH-PRIEST TRANSFERRED TO DA VID. 



109 



learn of David's increasing party. And he makes his ad- 
dress to stimulate personal loyalty, and to rouse the pur- 
suit. His speech is wholly personal and selfish. He ap- 
peals to them, not as Israelites, but as Benjamites, as if 
he had said : " Will a Bethlehemite of the tribe of Judah 
do better for you than a man of your own tribe ? " He 
appeals to their love of riches and of military station. 
" How can the son of Jesse give more than myself? " He 
suspects even them of conspiracy, and has no deep con- 
fidence in their loyalty. By their selfish fears and their 
selfish interest, he appeals to them to tell him the extent 
of his son's league with sedition against himself. He ac- 
cuses Jonathan of having stirred up David, a mere servant, 
to lie in wait for the throne. There is not a syllable of 
high-toned passion for God and for God's people and the 
maintenance of God's kingly government, such as Samuel 
would have shown. 

No one, however, is willing to testify against Jonathan. 
But Doeg, a man of influence, of station, and of wealth, 
as the Fifty-second Psalm fairly implies, the chief over 
Saul's servants, is ready to testify falsely against the high- 
priest. He tells Saul what he saw at Nob, and puts the 
construction of treason on the high-priest's act, as if the 
high-priest had welcomed and blessed David as a rising 
king, and as if he had put Goliath's sword in David's hand 
as a symbol and prophecy of victory.. The king sends 
for Ahimelech and for all the priests. He accuses Ahi- 
meiech of conspiracy. Ahimelech answers, in surprised 
innocence, that David was on the king's errand; that he 
came as the king's servant and the king's son-in-law, faith- 
ful to the king's honor and interest ; and that he did not 
(i begin to inquire of God for him." The suspicious king 
does not credit the answer. He insists that he and his 
priests' had conspired with David. They knew of David's 
flight ; they did not tell the king of it nor arrest it ; they 



II0 SE VENTEENTH SUNDA Y. 

blessed him in the name of God. His decree was per- 
emptory : " Thou sJialt die, thou and thy father's house." 
The sentence was executed with oriental despatch : and 
it was not the only time when Saul's cruel jealousy and 
anger crushed an innocent people.* But the soldiers re- 
fuse to slay the priests. Their reverence for the priests 
and their confidence in their innocence are greater than 
their fear of the king. He commands Doeg. He is base 
enough to comply. He takes his soldiers. Bedouin him- 
self, his Bedouin soldiers care no more for the Lord's 
priests, than for sheep and oxen. Ahimelech, of course, 
is first slain. They hasten to Nob. They strike down 
the whole city, more severely than Saul the city of the 
Amalekites when wicked Agag was fair and comely. Men, 
women, children, infants, oxen, asses, sheep, the city were 
destroyed, except only one priest, Abiathar, the son of 
Ahimelech, who escapes and makes his way to David, 
bearing with him the sacred vestments of his office. But 
God again overrules the wrath of man, for by this very 
act Saul has transferred to David both the high-priest of 
the nation and the divine insignia of his office. 

The awful tidings were told David. " I foresaw it," 
said the noble-hearted man. " I saw Doeg there. I have 
occasioned the death of all thy father's house. Do you. 
stay with me. The king seeks both your life and mine ; 
with me you shall be guarded." What a tumult must have 
filled young David's soul ! To be reckoned a traitor when 
he was conscious of innocence ; to be put into straits in. 
which he had been betrayed into falsehood and lying ; to 
be the death of the innocent priests who had saved his 
life ; to be lied about by this son of Esau ! Grief over 
his own sins, and righteous indignation and anger at the 
atrocious gilt of that miserable place-seeker, and a sense 



* 2 Samuel xxi. 



THE HIGH-PRIEST TRANSFERRED TO DA VID. \ i i 

of innocence in respect to the government and the king — 
how his heart was swept by emotions of sorrow and holy- 
rage and conscious innocence, as when the joyful and 
plaintive music flowed beneath his own hand from the 
lyre ! 

It is in this mood of innocence and penitence, mingled 
with overpowering wrath at the superlative wickedness 
and malicious delight of a base sycophant and time-server, 
we suppose, that he poured out his soul in the Fifty-second 
Psalm. In the psalm there maybe an allusion to his own 
falsehood and to the hideous lying of Doeg : 

Why gloriest thou in mischief, thou man of violence? 

The goodness of God yet continueth daily. 

Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs 

Like a sharp razor, thou contriver of deceit ! 

Thou lovest evil more than good, 

And tying more than to speak truth. 

Thou lovest all devouring words, 

thou deceitful tongue ! 

Thee also shall God utterly destroy ! 

He shall seize thee and tear thee from thy dwelling-place 

And uproot thee from the land of the living. 

The righteous shall see and fear, 

And make him a subject of scorn : 

" Behold the man that made not God his strength, 

But trusted in the abundance of his riches 

And placed his strength in his wickedness." 

But I shall be like a green olive-tree in the house of God ; 

1 will trust in the goodness of God for ever and ever. 
I will ever praise thee for what thou hast done • 

I will trust in thee on account of thy goodness 
Before the eyes of thy worshippers. 

— Noyes's Translation. 

A subtle and keen contrast between his own sensitive 
grief over his sin and Doeg's wicked exultation in his guilt 
may lie in the words : 

" Thou lovest evil more than good, 
And lying more than to speak truth.." 

" Why dost thou expect success, thou wicked man ! It is 
God in whom I trust, and not in place or riches. My 



112 



SE VENTEENTH SUN DA Y. 



kingship is his plan, and I wait on him and not on man to 
develop it." 

The seer who wrote the "Acts of David," and who 
had bidden him depart from Mizpeh, may have caught 
this tumultuous lament in the woods of Hareth, and pre- 
served it by divine guidance for its proper use in the 
tabernacle and temple psalmody. 



ffixgj)torf|j Smttmij, 



RESCUE FROM GOD. 



LESSON. 

i Samuel xxiii. 1-18 ; Joshua xv. 43, 44, 55 ; Psalm liv. 

WORD came now to David that the Philistines were 
aroused again. They were in the general neighbor- 
hood of Adullam. Perhaps they had hope of regaining 
their old territory during the distraction between Saul and 
David. They may have been aroused by the challenge 
with which Abishai and his two fellows carried off the 
water from the well at Bethlehem. They heard, it may 
be, that David outwitted them at Gath and had a troop of 
men at Adullam. If they came to Adullam and found 
him and his four hundred gone south-eastward over the 
mountains, and followed on only six miles, they would 
have come to Keilah. The place was on the edge of the 
unconquered portion of the tribe. David's four hundred 
and more, were afraid to go down there to an open fight. 

There at Keilah the Philistines had played an old game. 
The camels and asses have no sooner left their loaded 
sheaves at the threshing-floors, the mules and oxen no 
sooner trodden out the grain, than the Philistine troops 
sweep in, carry off the threshed heaps, and attack the 
town. 

For the first time that we hear of it, David now makes 
a formal inquiry of God in his own name. Abiathar, we 
have supposed, has reached him with the ephod, by which 

(113) 



1 14 EIGHTEENTH SUNDA Y. 

he could appear before God in the order which God had 
himself appointed. For, although it is said that Abiathar 
fled to David to Keilah, the phrase may mean simply that 
Keilah was the first place they came to after Abiathar 
joined them j and the fact of the presence of Abiathar 
and the ephod is mentioned in connection with the in- 
quiry of God before they advance on Keilah. A sacrifice 
is therefore offered ; the high-priest, in his robes, presents 
the king's request ; and in some way, by vision or sacred 
lot or voice, the answer in returned : " Go, and smite 
the Philistines, and save Keilah." David's motley troop, 
however, are faint-hearted, and he asks God again. He 
receives the more emphatic response : " Arise, go down 
to Keilah ; for I will deliver the Philistines into thine 
hand." Animated by the courage of their leader, who 
excited in them memories of Goliath and of the lion and 
the bear, they rush down to the fight, overpower the ene- 
my, raise the siege, save the harvest, and bring off the 
enemy's cattle. 

But David's success is likely to prove his defeat. Re- 
ceived as a deliverer, he may now defy Saul within walls 
and gates. His litde army is twice strong, for they have 
proved their valor. The news and the stir bring men 
flocking to him, till his four hundred become a full six 
hundred. Saul sees his opportunity. " He is shut up in 
a town," he said. "God has .turned him over to'me!" 
He called his warriors to the siege. He would pull the 
city in pieces. David heard of Saul's preparations and 
saw his clanger. He calls for Abiathar. He bids him 
seek counsel from God in the divine mode, and to request 
information in respect to two points : first, whether Saul 
will certainly advance to a siege of the city ; and secondly, 
whether the people of Keilah, grateful for deliverance, 
will stand by him in resisting Saul. Mark now the wis- 
dom of the divine providence. " Saul will certainly 



RESCUE FROM GOD. ! j 5 

come." " The men of Keilah will certainly deliver you 
up," are the answers of the oracle. This is intended to 
save David from an open conflict with the government. 
It is not by battles and sieges with Saul, and the spectacle 
of one divinely anointed king warring with another divinely 
anointed king, that David is to be brought to the throne. 
With his six hundred, therefore, he quickly left those dan- 
gerous walls. Saul does not catch him in the trap of 
Keilah ; but where shall he go ? North ? That will be to 
surrender himself to Saul. West ? That is to go among 
the Philistines whom he has just defeated. South-west, 
towards Gaza and the great highway to Egypt ? That will 
put in peril his independence. Back over the mountains 
to the south-east — that is the safest, for from there he may 
escape to the Sea wilds or the southern desert, or even to 
Horeb and Sinai, as Elijah did afterwards. 

But where is the wilderness into which David went ? If 
we read the story on to the end of the twenty-sixth chap- 
ter, and gather up the various names mentioned, we shall 
find that, taken together, they define the region with con- 
siderable exactness. For during the time contained in 
these chapters, David was in a region in which were 
" wilderness " and "wood" and "mountain" and "strong- 
holds" and pasture for sheep and farming-lands, and where 
were "Ziph" and "Hachilah" and " Jeshimon " and 
"Maon" and "Engedi" and the "wilderness of Paran " 
and " Carmel." Ziph, four miles away from Hebron, 
Carmel (quite another place from Mount Carmel) three 
miles further, and Maon another mile, are on the road 
south-east from Hebron, over which we have already seen 
David take his father and mother. These places are rec- 
ognized and well-known. Engedi we know too, on the 
Salt Sea, nearly east from Hebron. The " wilderness 
of Paran" is the 'great wilderness, extending to Sinai on 
the south and beginning in the region of Ziph and Maon 



1 1 6 EIGH TEENTH SUNDA Y. 

on the north. The hill of Hachilah is unknown, except that 
it was not far from Ziph and Moan.* It was on the south 
of Jeshimon ; the margin reads, " on the right hand of 
Jeshimon," which is the same thing if you are on the road 
traveling south-east from Hebron. The word "Jeshimon" 
means "wilderness." As "the hill of Hachilah" was 
" before Jeshimon,* that is, in front of or in the face of 
Jeshimon, and as Pisgah and Pebr also " looked towards 
Jeshimon" or the wilderness, f Ziph and Maon were on 
one side, and Pisgah and Peor were on the opposite side, 
and Jeshimon w r as between them. This makes it clear 
that Jeshimon was the wild region which lies between the 
plain of Ziph, Carmel, and Maon near Hebron, and the 
northern end of the Salt Sea — a vast, ragged, rocky slide, 
cracked and tossed at some past period by a convulsion 
of nature, gnawed by the tooth of winter torrents, which 
for centuries have plunged from the water ridge of Judah 
to the Salt Sea. Everywhere you see naked conical 
hills, " barren and rugged, patched with buff and brown, 
dotted with low black tents ;" the ridges are hundreds of 
feet high ; the deep ravines " start suddenly and fall 
steeply down" to the desert and the sea. As you go 
down, the shrubs with which the hills are sprinkled disap- 
pear, and only a dry, stunted grass, the growth of the 
rainy season, remains. Chalk and flint become mixed 
with the limestone. You find your rugged path between 
close walls of perpendicular rock a hundred feet high, or 
along the steep face of a hill, or in the dry bed of a tor- 
rent. On all sides the rocks are full of caverns. Here 
you start a gazelle ; there a yellow jackall runs like a fox 
to his hole ; along the opposite cliff bounds a mountain 
goat. The plain of Ziph and Carmel and Maon, " on the 
south of Jeshimon," is cultivated and fertile ; but it was no 



■ xxvi. 1-3. f Numbers xxi. 20; xxiii. 28. 



RESCUE FROM GOD. ny 

doubt this wild region which lay so near, that was called, 
from the south-western side, " the wilderness of Ziph," 
or " the wilderness of Maon," and from the eastern 
side " the wilderness of Engedi." The waving plain - 
about Ziph, now so fertile, may once have been a 
noble forest or a thicket-wood, which helped to hide 
David as he and his party kept ready to escape into 
the awful rocks and caverns of Jeshimon below.* Saul 
did not find him, although his spies and messengers look- 
ed for him every day. But hither Jonathan comes, taking 
occasion to escape his father, still at Gibeah, and seeking 
to support the fainting spirit of David. His faith is as 
heroic as David's; for he expresses the utmost confidence 
that -God's anointment is certain. " Do not fear : you 
will escape : you will be king ; I know it : my father 
knows it," says the generous youth, as the two friends 
pledge again their covenant in the wilderness, and separ- 
ate for the last time. 

Reassured by Jonathan, David is not, however, to be 
left to mere human assurances. God has a mode of show- 
ing him with whom he has a stronger covenant. The 
people of Ziph have watched the company of David as 
they have gone over to Moab, as they have come back to 
Keilah, and as, trembling, they have fled again into the 
wood and the mountain lurking-places on the wilderness 



* The probable site of Hachilah is the high hill bounded by 
deep valleys north and south, on which the ruin of Yekin now 
stands. A large ancient ruin stands on the brink of the deep 
slope, and looks down on the white marl ridges of the Jeshimon. 
On the north, the two peaks above and beyond Engedi are sep- 
arated by the gleaming thread of sea, scarce seen in its great 
chasm. Below are the long ridges of Moab, the iron preci- 
pices, the thousand water-courses, the great plateau of Kerak, 
the black volcanic gorge Callirrhoe all lying in deep shadows 
under the morning sun or brightened with a crimson-flushed 
sunset. — Lieutenant Conder. 



1 1 8 EIGII TEEN TH S UNDA Y. 

edge. Saul's spies probably brought some of these 
Ziphites to Gibeah, or they volunteered the twenty-mile 
journey to tell Saul of David's hiding-places, and to offer to 
betray him to the king. At first the king wishes them to 
bring word again, particularly of his strongholds, but at 
length he arouses himself, and starts with them, determined 
to search him throughout all the thousands of Jndah. As the 
Ziphites were of Judah, it is plain that there was not yet 
awakened any general sympathy of the tribe of Judah with 
one of their own number, either as a persecuted innocent 
or as an expectant king.f 

Now begins the pursuit in earnest. David's scouts are 
on the lookout. He shifts his place from one point to 
another — from the lofty rock or the cliff cavern to the 
forest or thicket. Saul's men plunge into the very wilder- 
ness. David for his life, like a partridge, flees along the 
mountain-side. On the opposite side of the mountain, 
Saul and his men so divide themselves that they are on 
the point of surrounding David when God calls off the pur- 
suit. A runner comes in panting from Hebron. " Haste 
thee and come. The Philistines have invaded the land." 
Recovered from their defeat at Keilah, they are pushing 
up the mountains. No time is to be lost, or between di- 
vided opinions the kingdom will be lost. In an hour, the 
king has wheeled and gone, and David breathes free, 
saved by the Lord's providence. 

He falls back with his little army into the lower wilder- 
ness, and finds a rocky refuge in the cliffs and caverns 
about Engedi. 

Here we may suppose — since we know it was about 
this time — as he thought of the walls and bars of Keilah, 
and of this 'stranger providential deliverance at the hill of 
Hachilah, he sings the psalm which bears the inscription : 

f The treachery of the Ziphites forms a striking contrast to 
Jonathan's treatment of David. 



RESCUE FROM GGD. 



A PSALM OF DAVID, 



IIQ 



When the Ziphim came and said to Saul, " Doth not David hide himself 
with us? " 

Save me, God, by thy name, 

And by thy strength defend my cause ! 

God hear my prayer, 

Give ear to the words of my mouth. 
For enemies have risen up against me, 
And oppressors seek my life ; 
They have not set God before them : 

Behold ! God is my helper ; 
The Lord is the support of my life. 
He will repay evil to my enemies ; 
For thy truth's sake, O God, cut them off! 
With a willing heart will I sacrifice to thee ; 

1 will praise thy name, O Lord ! for it is good ; 
For thou hast delivered me from all trouble, 

So that my eye hath looked with satisfaction upon my enemies. 

— Noyes^s Translation. 



JJimtcmifr Suniraj. 



A SOFT ANSWER. 



LESSON. 

r Samuel xxiii. 29 ; xxiv. ; 2 Chronicles xx. 2 ; Genesis xiv. 7 ; Song of Solomon 
i. 14 ; Psalms cxlii., lvii. 

THE region above Engedi has already been described. 
The two names, poetically descriptive, picture it to us — 
En-gedi, Fountain of the Kid ', a fountain in the midst of wild* 
rocks where wild goats have their haunts; and Hazazon- 
tamar, The Pruning, or The Felling of the Palm, on account 
of the palm-groves which surrounded the place, Josephus 
says. The Amorites and the Amalekites lived there when 
Lot came down into this "well-watered" "garden," and 
King Jehoshaphat at Jerusalem, a century and a half after 
David, was full of fear when he heard of a multitude from 
beyond the Dead Sea, gathered at the pass where the 
shore road heads up the cliffs toward Tekoa and Jeru- 
salem. The fountain is now on a shelf of the rocky ledge, 
midway in the face of a perpendicular cliff fifteen hundred 
feet high. Ruins near the fountain and four hundred feet 
below at the bottom leave the traveler in doubt on which 
spot was the town itself. The fountain and its secure, 
defensive position perhaps decided the location. The 
path from the top down the smooth rose-colored limestone ■ 
Is by a sharp-angled zigzag, and is one of the most terrific 
passes in the world. The fountain bursts out of the nar- 
row terrace, and rushes down, through a luxuriant thicket 
(120) 



A SOFT A A T S WER. T 2 1 

of trees and shrubs, to a little plain half a mile square on 
the shore. There grow the gum-arabic tree, thorn-trees 
with their acid apples, a large tree called by the Arabs 
Fustak, " with long, beautiful clusters of whitish blos- 
soms," and' the curious 'Osher, ten and fifteen feet 
high, its trunk six or eight inches in diameter, with 
leaves and flowers like the milk-weed, and, like the 
milk-weed, discharging a milky fluid when broken, and 
with fruit in clusters of three or four, the size of a large 
orange, yellow and smooth, " fair and delicious to the eye, 
but exploding like a puff-ball when pressed or struck." 
The palm, we suppose, grew there in David's time, but 
none are there now. Probably the whole descent was 
then terraced with gardens or vineyards ; for it was famous 
in Solomon's day, and its appearance now indicates such 
ancient cultivation. The little plain on either side of the 
brook at the foot, now rich and cultivated, was then, no 
doubt, covered with tillage and prolific in tropical fruits 
and vegetables. On the north, a gigantic cliff, broken and 
gashed by a short ravine, the base of which juts out into 
the sea, stops all progress from the plain, in that direction ; 
while on the south, the little plain is bounded by a larger 
ravine, through which the waters tumble in the rainy sea- 
son, between lofty precipices, and past which the road 
from the lower end of the sea advances. Yonder David 
may escape into the land of Edom or of Moab, if King 
Saul shall venture down those long and ragged and terrible 
slopes, the bottom of which strike the tops of these cliffs. 
Here was much to impress the soul of the young poet 
and warrior. From the tops of the cliffs as he came from 
the wilderness behind, he looked out upon a scene mag- 
" nificently Avild and stern. A vast solitude stretched around 
him, the silence of which was hardly broken by the voices 
of his few hundred men, or the gentle, heavy surge on the 
shore below, or the carol of the lark, the whistle of the 



1 2 2 NINE TEENTH SUN DA Y. 

quail, the call of the partridge, in air and tree and rock. 
As he and his company retreat from the sea into the wil- 
derness of rocks, this awful chasm and these shattered 
mountains are to them, as they are to us, tokens of the 
wrath of God. The smoke of the doomed cities once 
went up as the dense vapor now rises from the waters, 
filling the chasm and spreading its haze along yonder moun- 
tains. 

It is said that " David went up from thence, and dwelt 
in strongholds at En-gedi." It may be that when Saul 
was called away to the Philistines, David fled southwards 
from Maon, and came up to Engedi along the shore- 
path. 

Will King Saul venture far down into these awful rocks, 
into these narrow passes where a score of men can hold a 
thousand in check, and where, from crags and cliffs and 
caverns, his chief men and the king himself may be slain ? 
Yes ! All warfare* in those days, and certainly in that 
land of mountains, was hand-to-hand fighting, the scaling 
of impregnable walls, and the assault of rocky strongholds. 
In this spirit, stirred by the almost perfect success at Ma- 
on, and by the flight of the Philistines before him, Saul 
boldly descends with his three thousand, resolved to hunt 
David out through every ravine and cavern of Judah. On 
every rock where an ibex can stand, he will hunt him out ! 
When he had hastened back to Ziph and had learned 
where David was, the three thousand chosen for this ser- 
vice in the gorges of the wilderness were picked* men 
from his army. Imagine them divided into small com- 
panies, exploring the ravines and caverns. Some climb 
the crags, some peer cautiously into the dark caverns from 
which a beast may spring. Every ridge and every gorge 
has its man or its party, Saul and his body-guard following 

" " proved." 



A SOFT ANSWER. 



123 



their own pursuit ; and thorough search is made so far as 
they go. 

The two psalms written while " in the cave," must have 
been composed in the haunts to which David and his men 
at this time daily resorted — in daily expectation of the 
pursuers. From one cave-haunt we hear this plaintive and 
hopeful lament ; afterwards revised for tabernacle-service, 
as 

INSTRUCTION OF DAVID. 

A PRAYER WHEN HE WAS IN THE CAVE.* 

I cry unto the Lord with my voice, 

With my voice to the Lord do I make my supplication. 

I pour out my complaint before him, 

I declare before him my distress. 

When my spirit within me was overwhelmed. 

Thou knewest my path ! 

In the way which I walk, they have hid a snare for me ; 

I look on my right hand and behold : 

But no man will know me ! 

Refuge faileth me ! 

No man careth for me ! 

I cry to thee, O Lord ! 

I say, Thou art my refuge, 

My portion in the land of the living. 

Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low. 

Deliver me from my persecutors, 

For they prevail against me ! 

Bring me out of my prison 

That I may praise thy name ! 

The righteous shall gather around me 

When thou shalt show me thy favor. 

— Noyes's Translation. 

From the very cavern into which Saul shortly after- 
wards retired, comes this more hopeful psalm, afterwards 
set to the tune of " Do not Destroy," — 

" A GOLDEN PSALM OF DAVID, 

WHEN HE FLED FROM SAUL IN THE CAVE." 

Have pity upon me, O God, have pity upon me. 
For in thee doth my soul seek refuge ! 
Yea, in the shadow of thy wings do I take shelter, 
Until these calamities be overpast ! 



* The psalm may have been composed in the present tense and afterwards 
used in the perfect tens-.', the Hebrew verb admitting of either construction. 



1 24 NINE TEEN TH S UN DA V. 

I call upon God the Most High, 

Upon God, who performeth all things for me ; 

He will send from heaven, and save me ; 

He will put to shame him that panteth for my life ; 

God will send forth his mercy and his truth. 

My life is in the midst of lions ; 

I dwell among them that breathe out fire ; 

Among men whose teeth are spears and arrows, 

And whose tongue is a sharp sword. 
Exalt thyself, O God, above the heavens, 
And thy glory above all the earth ! 
They have prepared a net for my steps. 
My soul is bowed down ; 
They have digged a pit before me, 
But into it they have themselves fallen.* 

My heart is strengthened, O God, my heart is strengthened ! 
I will sing and give thanks. 
Awake, my soul ! awake, psaltery and harp ! 
I will wake with the early dawn. 
I will praise thee, O Lord, among the nations ; 
• I will sing to thee among the kingdoms ! 
For thy mercy reacheth to the heavens, 
And thy truth to the clouds ! 
Exalt thyself, O God, above the heavens, 
And thy glory above all the earth ! 

— Noyes's Translation. 

David and a few of his men have advanced or retreated 
to the sheep-folds — a place " by the way," that is, on the 
worn path, were a circular wall of loose stones had been 
thrown up for the shepherds and their flocks at night, 
often built in front of caverns. As the shouts of the 
king's pursuers approach, they hide in a cave. "The cav- 
ern may have been full of sheep when they entered ; nor 
would their presence have disturbed them."f The king's 
men come near. A form appears at the mouth of the 
cavern. It is the king himself ! Strange providence in- 
deed ! His guard do not enter ! He is alone ! Blinded 
by the glare of the sun against the rocks, he cannot see 



* From these two lines, it may be inferred that the psalm was written after 
David had caught Saul in the cave and after Saul's troops were withdrawn. If 
so, the psalm expresses his lack of confidence in Saul's professions and his en- 
tire confidence in God. 

\ Thomson. 



A SOFT ANSWER. 12 $ 

five paces inwards ; but, crouching back in the depths or 
turns of the cavern, they can see his every movement. His 
face is turned from them, and the skirts of his ungirded 
robe lie spread around him. " Now is God's time," 
whisper David's men ; "for he said he would deliver him 
into your hands." Sword in hand, the youthful valiant 
approaches the king, his step undistinguished from the 
tramp or step of sheep. To the astonishment of his 
friends, he does not strike, but only cuts quickly off the 
end of Saul's robe. Even for this, his heart smites him. 
"After all," he says to himself, "I ought not to disgrace 
or demean the king." " He was anointed of God," he 
whispers to his men, amidst the rustling of the sheep. 
11 The Lord forbid that I should strike him or do him 
harm." He keeps them back till Saul rises up and joins 
his body-guard outside, and hastens on, when David goes 
out, and cries, "My lord the king!" Saul looks, and 
sees David bowed prostrate in obeisance and reverence. 
And as the king returns, David rises with an appeal, every 
word of which went to the very soul of Saul : "Why dost 
thou hear the words of men, O king ! when they tell thee 
David seeks thy hurt ? Behold, this day thine eyes have 
seen how God himself delivered thee to my power. My 
men bade me kill thee ; but my eye spared thee. I said 
I will not lift my hand against him ; for he is the Lord's 
anointed. See in my hand, my father, the skirt of thy 
robe. Know then and see for yourself that there is no 
evil design in me that seeks thy hurt. Yet thou huntest 
my soul to take it. 

" Let the Lord judge us. Let the Lord avenge me. 
But my hand shall not be on thee. From the wicked, 
saith the proverb of the ancients, comes wickedness : but 
my hand shall not be upon thee. 

" And after whom has the king of the nation come in 
pursuit ? a mere dead dog, a flea. 



l 2 6 NINETEENTH SUNDAY. 

11 The Lord be judge. Let him see, and plead my 
cause, and deliver me from thy hand." 

The king looked on amazed ! His hard heart melted, 
as the soft and loving words of David fell upon it, like 
gentle gusts of warm rain on the ice; and as he glanced 
at his royal robe, and saw the severed piece in David's 
hand, he filled with emotion, his eyes filled with tears, and 
he said : 

" Is this thy voice, my son David ? Thou hast been 
more righteous than I. Thou hast rewarded me good, 
while I have rewarded thee evil. Thou hast truly showed 
me that thou hast dealt kindly with me ; for, when the 
Lord shut me up into thy hand, thou didst not kill me. 
If a man find his enemy, will he let him go ? The Lord 
reward thee good for what thou hast done to me to-day. 
Now I know well that thou shalt be king, and that the 
kingdom of Israel shall be established under thy hand. 

" Swear, then, to me, that thou wilt not cut off my seed, 
after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of 
my father's house." 

What an oath was that for David to consent to take 
there in the wilderness — an oath of protection instead of 
fealty to Saul ! 

The king was overcome and confounded. His imagina- 
tion and suspicion were disarmed. As his trumpets 
sounded through the glens the signal for retreat, and the 
long column of his chosen warriors wound up the defiles 
towards Tekoa and Bethlehem and Gibeah, the moody 
man did not doubt for the time that David was innocent 
of evil intent against the government or against himself. 



Chmttirffr Simbag. 



NABAL AND ABIGAIL. 



LESSON. 

i Samuel xxv.; xxviii. 3. Psalms xiii., Ixii. 

IT has now been three or four years since David left 
Naioth in Ramah. Let us suppose that the time spent 
at Gath, at Adullam, where the four hundred gathered, at 
Mizpeh of Moab, and in the forest of Hareth, amounted 
to about one year. Let us suppose that the expedition 
against Keilah, and the time spent in that city and in the 
strongholds and wilderness of Ziph, consumed another 
year. Then, while Saul has gone in pursuit of the Philis- 
tines and is making ready his three thousand, during which 
time David is in the wild regions of Engedi, and the 
months which transpire after Saul left him at the sheep- 
folds, make up something more than another year. Dur- 
ing the following autumn occur the events at Carmel and 
Nabal's possessions. 

During this last year, besides the proof which Saul had 
that David was innocent of conspiracy against him per- 
sonally, another cause gave David respite for a time. The 
aged Seer at Ramah died. The death of that pre-eminent 
man, God's accepted prophet, made a profound impression. 
" All the Israelites gathered together, and lamented him, 
and buried him." More than one told over his famous 
speech down at Gilgal, when he said, "Witness against 

(127) 



128 T WEN TIE TH S UN DA Y. 

me : whose ox or whose ass have I stolen ?" and com- 
mented on its truth. More than one good man rehearsed 
Samuel's righteous indignation at Saul and his terrible pun- 
ishment of Agag, and praised the justness of the Seer's 
character. In many a house, mothers to a new growth of 
children repeated the oft-told story of the little child in the 
tabernacle at Shiloh. " He set up the kingdom ; he did 
it wisely and well : he told us of the sin and misery that 
would come from it; would God we had been content 
without this miserable Saul," was the conversation of wise 
men. The land was moved, and the people thronged up 
and along the mountains to bury him in Ramah. When 
Aaron died, the congregation mourned for him thirty days. 
When Moses died, there were thirty days of mourning 
and weeping. When Samuel died, therefore, the public 
lamentation was formal and protracted ; attended with all 
the customary signs of grief, and of funeral honor : — the 
rending of clothes, sackcloth, dust or ashes, fasting, 
silence, the wailing of women, the beating of the breast, 
and the shrill dirge of pipes. For a month, in some form, 
the signs of respect and grief were maintained, the king 
and the elders of the tribe or elders of cities throughout 
the land formally abstaining from occupations inconsistent 
with grief. 

David cannot join the mourning nation. It would not 
be prudent for him to appear. He knew the changing 
moods of Saul's mind too well for that. It were better 
to be entirely separate from the nation. He goes down, 
therefore, into the wilderness of Paran. " Goes down ;" that 
seems to signify that he descended the steep at Engedi, 
and went down the shore-road to the end of the sea, and 
encamped in the wilds there or beyond ; or if " goes 
down" signifies only the general direction downwards to- 
wards the great southern desert, the shortest and most 
secluded road was by the Engedi pass and the sea- 



NABAL AND ABIGAIL. I2 g 

path. Here they cannot have the fruits and vegetables 
of Engedi, but must subsist on whatever they can find, as 
many a band of Bedouins have done since. 

In some such respite as this, while in the solitudes of 
the wilderness, musing on the moodiness of Saul's temper, 
and perhaps on the death of Samuel, the soul which was 
always breathing itself forth in ejaculations of song and 
petition and praise, gave utterance to the Thirteenth psalm : 

How long, O Lord, will thou utterly forget me ? 
How long wilt thou hide thy face from me ? 
How long shall I have anxiety in my soul, 
And sorrow in my heart all the day ? 
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me ? 
Look down and hear me, O Lord my God; 
Enlighten my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death, 
Lest my enemy say, I have prevailed against him, 
Let my adversaries rejoice when I am fallen. 

Yet will I trust in thy goodness; 

My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation; 

I will sing to the Lord, that he hath dealt kindly with me. 

These men were not freebooters and bandits, like the 
present Bedouins ; certainly David was not in any true 
sense an outlaw, for he was driven into this wild life 
against his will. He could not go back to a settled life at 
Bethlehem, if he would. God himself had compelled him 
to flee, nay, had told him that he must not stay in Keilah. 
The most, therefore, that he can do is to restrain his men 
from depredations as much as possible, and to gain food 
for his hundreds by whatever contrivances he can. This 
Jie had already done when they were up in the fruitful 
plain of Ziph and Carmel. Thousands of sheep and hun- 
dreds of goats were browsing on those pastures, but his 
men were not permitted to seize them nor to insult or an- 
noy the shepherds. They even protected them from rob- 
bers or beasts for a considerable time. If such a chief as 
David had control of that region now, those dangerous 



1 30 T WEN TIE TH SUNDA Y. 

regions would be safe for travelers.* Many of David's 
men very likely had some money at first. If it had not 
been entirely expended at Engedi, they could still purchase 
something for their wants. The shepherds and herdsmen 
too, no doubt, returned provisions for their good offices. It is 
at just some such time as this, we imagine, that David heard 
of Nabal's sheep-shearing in Carmel. Nabal was rich. Three 
thousand sheep were led by his keepers out to pasture, 
and a thousand goats were mixed with them, as on the 
self-same pastures sheep and goats are now mixed. He 
was " very great" in the hill country of Judah. But he 
was a hard, harsh man, quick in temper, ready to let fly 
his tongue when his interests were touched ; who had no 
good reputation for his business transactions, and who was 
thought by some to be a very " son of Belial." 

David heard in the wilderness that Nabal's annual 
sheep-shearing, which is something of a festival in the 
East, " a time of open-handed hospitality among flock- 
masters," was in progress at Carmel. He at once sends 
up ten of his young men to salute him, and to tell him of 
their need and their services to his flocks, to congratulate 



* "That entire region is now almost deserted except by 
Bedouin robbers, who render it at least as dangerous to honest 
shepherds as it seems to have been before David and his com- 
pany frequented it. The men of Carmel mention it as something 
remarkable that they were not hurt, neither missed anything as 
long as they were conversant with them in the fields. 'They 
were a wall unto us night and day all the while we were with 
them keeping the sheep.' It is refreshing to read such a testi- 
mony to David's admirable government over the heterogeneous 
and not very respectable band that followed him ; and if there 
was now such an emeer in that same region, Ave might have safe- 
ly extended our rambles down to the Dead Sea, at the famous 
castle of Masada, and then passed on northward by Ain Jidy to 
Jericho. As it is, we are only able to get some such view of 
these districts as Moses had from the top of Pisgah." — Thomson 
in the Land and Book. 



NABAL AND ABIGAIL. 1^1 

him on his prosperity — " we come in a good day " — and 
to ask something generous for thy " son David" and his 
men. A modern sheikh of the neighboring desert would 
do the same thing.* The words of David's message con- 
veyed fully to Nabal who it was that sent him, and that he 
had sent graciously and not by force for provisions in a 
time of need. He knew who David was, for the king's 
army had been hunting him almost over his fields ; and he 
knew that, if David's men, pressed by need, had made a 
raid on his crops and cattle, no one would have condemn- 
ed them harshly. But Nabal's answer is the petulant an- 
swer always of a mean and stingy disposition : " Who is 
David ? and who is the son of Jesse ? there be many ser- 
vants nowadays that break away from their masters. 
Shall I take my bread, and my water, and my slaughter 
that / have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men 
whom I know not whence they be ?" He turned away the 
young men with a coarse contempt. 

David was stung to the quick by the answer, " Who is 
David ?" Who is any one in need to a selfish, cold heart ! 
And the fling at his men as runaways and outlaws was just 
the taunt to fire them. " Gird on your swords/' he said. 
He took four hundred. Two hundred stayed by the camp. 

But one of Nabal's young men had seen trouble and 
danger ahead. He told the story of David's kindness and 
protection and of Nabal's stingy spite quickly to Abigail. 
" Evil is certainly determined against him and against us 
all." Abigail's good understanding was quick to perceive 
and quick to provide. She ordered the asses. She piled 
on five dressed sheep, and five bushels of roasted wheat, 



* " On such a festive occasion near a town or village, even in our 
own time, an Arab sheikh of the neighboring desert would hard- 
ly fail to put in a word, either in person or by message, and his 
message both in form and substance would be only the transcript 
of that of David." — Robinson. 



132 T WEN TIE TH S UN DA Y. 

and two skins of wine, and two hundred cracknels of bread, 
and a hundred bunches of dried grapes, and two hundred 
cakes of pressed figs. " Drive on," she said, " I will come 
behind myself." And like Jacob following his presents to 
Esau, she mounted her mule, and made haste down the 
hills. She was not too soon ; for at a certain hiding-place 
in the hill she met David in his wrath. His generous 
spirit was stung by the contemptible meanness and bitter- 
ness with which he had been treated. " Is this the return 
he gives me for my care ? Not a dog of his flocks shall 
see to-morrow's light." 

But these presents and this woman ! Abigail is bowed 
before him as he had been prostrate before Saul. And 
she poured out a gracious appeal, which glimpses of a fair 
face do not weaken : " On me let this wickedness be ! 
Fool is this man's name, and folly is with him. Thine 
handmaid did not see the young men thou didst send. May 
thine enemies be as Nabal ; but do not shed blood." And 
then with what handsome speech does she retract Nabal's 
taunt, " Who is the son of Jesse ?" by alluding to her 
knowledge of his past career, of his innocence in the con- 
test with the king, by declaring her confidence in his es- 
tablishment as a ruler, and by delicately appealing to him 
not to mar his future success by a remembrance of having 
shed Nabal's blood. 

The grace and beauty of her words and her address, 
even if the beautiful face was hidden by the veil, touched 
the heart as well as the gallantry of David.* He blessed 
God that she had come with her presents and her gracious 
words to keep him from blood. He took her presents, 
and said, "Go home in peace. I have barkened to thy 
voice." 

While his discreet wife meets the angry troop in the wil- 



* The name too may have touched him tenderly, for David's 
sister's name was Abigail. 



NABAL AND ABIGAIL. 



133 



derness, the stupid Nabal makes a feast for himself. With 
a passion for drink, the wine flows freely, and when 
Abigail at length toils up the steep road back to the 
shearing-place at Carmel, her fool of a husband is too 
drunk to comprehend the state of things. In the morning 
he is sober enough to be appalled at his narrow escape. 
As Abigail goes over the events as they occurred, telling 
him, no doubt, who it is whom he has insulted, and that 
David is certain to be king and Saul to be destroyed, it may 
be visions of future punishment from such a mighty man — 
an oriental tyrant — rose up before him. He sank into 
cowardly terror and abjectness. His heart died within him, 
and he became as a stone. " It was as if a stroke of apo- 
plexy or paralysis had fallen upon him."f Whether it was 
the effect of this terror, or the continuance of a drunken 
debauch — continued, to drown fear — or some more direct 
infliction of the Almighty, ten days afterwards he died. 
" It was not without justice regarded as a divine judg- 
ment." David considered it a vindication of his own 
cause. 

After the customary time of grief required by respect for 
her husband had expired — and that respect for Nabal 
could not have been profound — David sends his servants 
to propose marriage. He has had time to make enquiries 
in respect to her character and station. It is to be ob- 
served that, although David may be reckoned an outlaw in 
the wilderness, and she is the heir of large possessions, his 
message to her is not in the nature of request or solicita- 
tion, but of decision and command, and that she accedes 
to it as if made by one whose station authorized it. David 
was already allied to the royal family — a son-in-law to the 
king, although Saul had given Michal to a man named 
Phalti, of the town of Gallim, a town probably in the 

f Stanley. 



134 



TWENTIETH SUNDA Y. 



king's own tribe. Abigail's faith in David's prospects was, 
therefore, put to the test. Marriage with the outlaw whom 
Saul had twice pursued through this very region might en- 
danger all her possessions and her life besides. She is 
confident that the soul of David is bound up in the bundle 
of life, and that, as from a sling, the Lord will sling out 
the souls of his enemies. She is attracted, too, by his 
beauty and address, as well as he by hers. She at once 
accepts the offer as an honor, bowing herself as a servant, 
and declaring herself happy to be but near him as a servant 
of servants ; and hastening with five attendants to her 
future lord. 

In the midst, therefore, of adversity, David has something 
of prosperity. But in prosperity, he is compelled to re- 
member his insecurity and his oppressions. Easily moved 
to heights or depths, he can still keep the even balance of 
trust in God. It cannot be far from the true circumstances 
of its composition, if we assign the Sixty-second psalm to 
this time : 

"A PSALM OF DAVID, 
Afterwards delivered to the leader of the music of the Jeduthanites." 

On God alone my soul reposeth, 

From him cometh my deliverance ; 

He alone is my rock and my salvation. 

He is my safeguard ! I shall not wholly fall ! 

How long will ye continue to assault a single man ? 

How long will ye all seek to destroy me, 

Like a bending wall or a tottering fence ? 

They study how to cast me down from my eminence : 

They delight in falsehood ; 

They bless with their mouths, but in their hearts they curse. 



Truly, men of low degree are vanity, 

And men of high degree are a lie. 

Placed in the balance, 

They are all lighter than vanity. 

Trust not in extortion ; 

Place no vain hopes in rapine. 

If riches increase, set not your heart upon them ! 



NABAL AND ABIGAIL. 



135 



Once hath God promised, twice have I heard it. 
That power belongeth unto God; 
To thee, also, O Lord, belongeth mercy, 
• For thou dost render to every man according to his work. 

— Mayes's Translation. 

From the neighboring town, Jezreel,* very different from 
the town which was afterwards Ahab's capital, David took 
also another wife, Ahinoam. Both these wives, his real 
and free choice, were his wives after he became king in 
Hebron, and Ahinoam was the mother of his first-born son 
Amnon. He did not recover Michal till he had been seven 
years king in Hebron. 



* Joshua xv. 56. 



©hunta-first Sunium, 



'COALS OF FIRE. 



LESSON. 

i Samuel xxvi. ; xxvii. i. ; Psalm xxv. 

OTHERS besides Saul himself affected the king's tem- 
per. How much had the Ziphites to do with King 
Saul's third pursuit of David, after he had solemnly as- 
sured David that he was innocent of treason or other 
crime ? They had informed Saul twice before, for it was 
no doubt they who told Saul after he returned from the 
Philistines, that David was at Engedi. They had acquired 
a reputation as spies and informers, and could make it 
appear their duty to the government to be so. Their 
very appearance and presence at Gibeah would arouse 
Saul's jealousy again. They know now just the rebel's 
haunt. They tell him of Abigail and of David's alliance, 
and of his resort to his new home. 

His family, and his chief counsellors too, with such rea- 
sons as courtiers can always find, may have urged Saul to 
maintain his kingdom.. Abner, his general, and his uncle, 
we know, maintained Saul's cause against David for seven 
years after the king was slain ; and we may, therefore, be 
sure that, while Saul was yet alive, he advocated the policy 
of putting down a rising usurper. 

We have, therefore, reason to believe that these two 
influences — courtiers at home and Ziphite spies — helped 
(136) 



<l COALS of fire:' I37 

on the decision of the king to hunt David again. The 
evil spirit is on him, and, forgetting his state of mind at 
the sheep-folds, he issues his orders to three thousand 
chosen men. 

David could not have been greatly surprised. He was 
well acquainted with the moodiness of Saul's mind. Al- 
though he was now stronger than ever before, from his 
alliance with the towns of Maon and Carmel and Jezrael 
through his wives, still his power was very small before 
the thousands of the king. He kept himself therefore 
concealed, and sent out his spies, till he knew that Saul 
was actually come into the wilderness. At length, he 
learns that Saul's troops are at the very hill of Hachilah 
which he knew so well ; and by night with a trusty few, 
he goes out to reconnoitre. 

From some neighboring rock, they look down on the 
camp. The beasts and their burdens and the camp lug- 
gage lie in a circle as a rampart, just like a "con-all" 
on the western plains. In the centre can be seen a spear, 
stuck upright in the earth, showing where the king lies, 
just as an Arab sheikh's tent is to-day distinguished.* 

Abner, the king's uncle and his general, lies next him. 
Heavy with sleep, without sentinel or guard, the soldiers 
lie around. f 



* " I noticed at all the encampments which we passed that the 
sheikh's tent was distinguished from the rest by a tall spear 
stuck upright in the ground in front of it ; and it is the custom, 
when a party is out on an excusion for robbery or for war, that 
when they halt or rest, the spot where the chief reclines or sleeps 
is thus desigated." — Thomson, Land and Book, p. 20. 

f "The whole of that scene is eminently oriental and perfectly 
natural, even to the deep sleep into which all have fallen, so 
that David and Abishai could walk among them in safety. The 
Arabs sleep heavily, especially when fatigued. Often when 
traveling my muleteers and servants have resolved to watch by 
turns in places thought to be dangerous, but in every instance I 



^8 TWENTY-FIRSTSUNDAY. 

" Who will go down into the camp with me ?" says 
David to his two leaders of his party — perhaps the only 
two with him. The same intrepid man that took water 
from the well at Bethlehem, perhaps when the Philistines 
were sleeping, is at once ready for another such excur- 
sion. The very peril fires his bravery. David and Abi- 
shai creep cautiously down the rocks, through the line of 
camels, asses, and baggage, past the sleeping soldiers, to 
the upturned faces of the general and the king. " Now 
God hath shut him up into your power," says Abishai, his 
hand on the hilt of his sword. "Let me strike him once ; 
no need of a second blow." No ! respect for God's 
anointment forbids it ! " Destroy him not. It would be 
a guilty thing to do. The Lord himself shall smite him, 
or his day shall come to die. That will be soon enough 
for the Lord's purposes. Or he shall die in battle. The 
Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against 
the Lord's anointed. Take his spear and his cruse, and 
let US £10." * 



soon found them fast asleep, and generally their slumbers were 
so profound that I could not only walk among tliem without 
their waking, but might have stolen the very aba with which 
thcv were covered." — Land and Book. 

"We were just now in the track of the Bedouins' marauding 
expeditions. The fellah marched off indignantly to call on his 
friends to attack us during the night. All we could do was to 
keep strict watch all night. We awoke without mishap, but not 
by any means due to our watchers, for on waking once near 
dawn, I found all snoring fast, and could not disturb them by 
sticks or stones." — Copt. IFarren, of the English Palestine Explor- 
ation, in the Valley of Elah. 

1 > one ventures to travel over these deserts without his 
cruse of water, and it is very common to place one at the 'bol- 
ster,' so that the owner can reach it during the night. The 
Arabs eat their dinner in the evening, and it is generally of 
such a nature as to create thirst, and the quantity of water they 



" COALS OF FIRE." j^q 

Strange conversation this, in that low tone, under the 
bright sky and over the sleeping general and the sleeping 
king, and among the sleeping thousands. A greater mag- 
nanimity than that shown in the cave ! for Saul has come 
with aggravated injustice, since the demonstration which 
David had given him of his innocence and of reverence 
for the government. 

Leaving the camp, they climb an opposite hill, which 
a deep chasm separates from the troops. Once mounted 
■ to that safe place, David cries out to the army. His 
musical voice rings out through the still night in the 
pure air, echoing from the rocks, " Abner !" " Ab- 
ner !" "Answerest thou not, Abner?" until at last the 
general breaks away from his heavy slumbers, and con- 
fusedly cries, " Who art thou that criest to the king ?" 
The king and the army are quickly all astir, and all silent 
to hear. Over the chasm a voice is heard, clear and cut- 
ting as Winter air : " Art not thou a valiant man, Abner ? 
And who is there like to thee in Israel, thou, the keeper 
of the king ? What hast thou done, thou keeper ? An 
enemy came in to kill the king. Ye all deserve to die, 
because ye have not kept the king. Look ! see ! here ! 
look where the king's spear is ! and his cruse of water !" 
Surely, where are the king's spear and cruse ? Yonder, 
held aloft in yonder hands !* 

Saul understood. 7/ is David. " Is this thy voice, my 
son David ?" " It is my voice, my lord, O king ! Why 
dost thou pursue after me ? What have I done ? What 



drink is enormous. The cruse is, therefore, in perpetual de- 
mand. Saul and his party lay in a shady valley, steeped in 
heavy sleep, after the fatigues of a hot day." — Land and Book, 
p. 21. 

* "There are thousands of ravines where the whole scene 
could be enacted, every word be heard, and )-et the speaker be 
quite beyond the reach of his enemies." — Land and Book, p. 21. 



140 



TWENTY-FIRST SUN DA Y. 



evil am I guilty of against thee ? Hear me, King ! 
What is the cause of your hostility ? It must be God or 
man. If Jehovah stir thee up to pursue, let him smell a 
sacrifice ; but if men only direct you, cursed be they before 
the Lord ; for they have driven me from the land of the 
true God, and said, Go serve other gods." He thought 
how he had been driven to Gath and to Mizpeh of Moab. 
" Let not my blood fall to the earth ; for it will fall before 
the face of God. For the king of the nation has come 
hunting a mere flea, a mere partridge like these that run 
along the mountains." 

The second time ! The king was amazed ! " They 
are wrong — these miserable counsellors of mine — these 
petty Ziphite spies ! /am wrong ! He has twice spared 
my life !" 

With a loud voice he calls to David — to reach David 
across the space the voice must have been so loud that 
the army heard the king — " I have sinned. Return, my 
son David. I will not do ihee harm ! never again ! My 
soul has been precious in thine eyes. I have played the 
fool. I have erred exceedingly." Here is an open con- 
fession of his folly, and of David's innocence. 

"See the king's spear! Let one of the young men 
come over and fetch it. The Lord render to each of us 
in justice and righteousness. For he delivered you into 
my hand to-day, but I would not stretch out my hand 
against the Lord's anointed. I have spared thy life to- 
night, and delivered thee : so let the Lord spare me, and 
deliver me from all my troubles." 

Again the hard heart melted, and again the king him- 
self is compelled to prophesy good things for David : 
"Blessed be thou, my son David. Thou shalt do great 
things, and shalt still prevail." With this prophecy, like 
John the Baptist's, " He shall increase, but I shall de- 
crease," the king sounded his last retreat. The Philistines 
would next call him out to defeat and death. 



" COALS OF FIRE." j^i 

David makes his way through the mountains and wilder- 
ness to his own troops, where, as the day wears on, the* 
night's adventure is told abroad ; and comments of admi- 
ration and indignation are made on the cave of the sheep- 
folds and the hill of Hachilah. 

The earnestness, however, of David's cry to Saul, his 
solemn appeal to God, his warning to Saul not to shed his 
blood before the Lord, signify that David was in anxieties 
too profound for him to be affected by a light admiration. 
He despairs of any end to Saul's hostility. Saul will cer- 
tainly catch him and crush him ! His natural thought would 
have been, that his sins brought on him his afflictions ! 
Deliverance, guidance, forgiveness, restoration of the na- 
tion from destruction and turbulence, are the topics which 
were uppermost, — the topics which we find in the Twenty- 
fifth psalm : 

To thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul ! 

O my God, I trust in thee ! Let me not be put to shame ! 

Let not my enemies triumph over me ! 

Yea, none that hope in thee shall be put to shame ! 

They shall be put to shame that wickedly forsake thee ! 

Cause me to know thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths ! 

Lead me in thy truth and teach me. 



Remember not the faults and transgressions of my youth ! 
According to thy mercy remember thou me, 
For thy goodness' sake, O Lord ! 

For thy name's sake, O Lord, 

Pardon my iniquity, for it is great ! 

Who is the man that feareth the Lord ? 

Him doth he show the way which he should choose. 

He shall himself dwell in prosperity, 

And his offspring shall inherit the land. 

Mine eyes are ever directed to the Lord, 

For he will pluck my feet from the net. 

Guard thou my life, and deliver me, 

Let me not be put to shame, for I have trusted in thee, 

Let innocence and uprightness preserve me, 

For on thee do I rest my hope. 

Redeem Israel, O God, from all his troubles. 

— Noyes's Translation. 



&fomtiT-&cc0nb' jskmtmu. 



'GONE OVER TO THE PHILISTINES." 



LESSON. 

i Samuel xxvii. ; xxviii. i, 2, 4 ; xxix. ; xxx. 26-31 ; 1 Chronicles xii. 1-22 ; 
Psalm.xxxi. 

DAVID was now nearly or quite twenty-eight years 
old; and it is the first point in his age that we have 
definitely marked. For when he left the land of the Philis- 
tines to be king, he was thirty years of age ; and he was a 
year and four months in that country before he became 
king. We may assume that after Saul left him at the hill 
of Hachilah, some months passed away before he actually 
went over to the Philistines. 

At the end of the thirtieth chapter, we have a list of at 
least thirteen cities in which David had friends during 
these eventful years of his wanderings. New that we 
have come to the time when, as a persecuted refugee, he 
leaves that region, we may glance at what we know of 
these cities, and see something of David's resources 
then. Here and there, suddenly on this day or that, 
we may see David and a party, or David and his whole 
troop, or a party of spearmen, or a single messenger, at 
the gates of a city, on an errand of " aid and comfort." 
Three of these cities were directly south of Hebron : Esh- 
temoa, seven miles away, a priests' city, and for that rea- 
son in sympathy with Samuel and his school — on a low 
hill in the midst of olive-trees and pasture-valleys, and in 
(142) 



' GONE VER TO THE PHILISTINES:' 



H3 



the same elevated hill-surrounded table as Ziph, Carmel, 
and Maon ; Jattir, ten miles away, and Aroer in the wilder- 
ness, further south than even Beersheba. Bethel, South 
Ramoth, and Hormah were in the territory of Simeon. 
We know nothing further of them, except Hormah, which 
was twenty long miles through rocks and gravel below 
Aroer, a town guarding the pass up the first "step" from 
the lowest level of desert-wilderness southward, and situ- 
ated on the side of a great ravine running north-east to 
the foot of the Salt Sea. To Hormah, David and his 
six hundred could have come when they "went down" to 
the wilderness of Paran, by a natural route from Engedi, 
without fear of molestation from Saul. In these vast soli- 
tudes he might have been, while -the nation were mourn- 
ing for Samuel, and before he sent up to Nabal's stingy 
shearing. The Kenites, old friends of the Hebrews from 
the times of Moses, lived " in the wilderness of Judah, 
south of Arad." Arad was about eight miles south of 
Hebron. " The cities of the Kenites," therefore, were in 
the region between Jattir, Hormah, and the foot of the 
Salt Sea. We know nothing of " the cities of the Jerah- 
meelites," except that they were in the very southern part 
of the tribe of Simeon, and that Jerahmeel, the ancestor 
of these inhabitants, was brother to the great Caleb who 
conquered and inherited Hebron. We must imagine, too, 
the families of his men with David, or joining them one 
after the other, for we shall find them with him in num- 
bers when we come to Ziklag.* 

It is not at all likely that David ventured to reside at 
any time in any of these cities. Gates and bars would 
attract Saul, as they did at Keiiah, and his presence within 
walls would be a temptation to some of the town-people 
to betray him. The time was not come for the people of 



* See, too, 2 Samuel ii. 3. 



144 TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY. 

his own tribe to rank themselves openly on his side. It 
would have been treason, indeed, in David and in them, 
for a tribe to espouse his cause. Yet he was not with- 
out adherents, and strong men from his own tribe and 
from other tribes than his own, as the First Book of 
Chronicles shows. When a new company from Judah 
came to him, David, seeing among them Benjamites, and 
remembering the Ziphites, was at first suspicious. " If 
ye be come peaceably to help me, my heart shall be knit 
unto you : but if to betray me, as I am innocent, may 
God rebuke you." Amasa, his nephew, in a noble spirit, 
answered, " Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou 
son of Jesse : peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to 
thy helpers ; for thy God helpeth thee."* They are taken 
into full confidence, and become captains of his troop. 
Some valuable helpers came, too, from the tribe of Gad, 
across the Jordan, lion-like men, fleet-footed, able to clear 
their way before them, who breasted Jordan when the 
waters were far over the banks. There were eleven of 
these captains, who perhaps brought men with them, and 
who " separated themselves unto David into the hold in 
the wilderness." These accessions, we may suppose, came 
after the affair of the robe at the sheep-folds, admiration 
for which exploit would naturally attract men to David, 
and kindle higher the wide-spread excitement. 

David now saw that another return of Saul would be 
only a question of time. If he pursued him in the rocks 
of Engedi, he would certainly hunt him down to the 
further boundaries of Simeon. Sooner or later, he would 
be compelled to escape out of the land into Moab or the 
depths of Paran, or into the land of the Philistines. Of 
these three countries, the land of the Philistines belonged 

* Yet Amasa, Ishmaelite's son that he was, afterwards in 
Absalom's rebellion forsook David, becoming Absalom's gene- 
ral. 



'GONE OVER TO THE PHILISTINES." 



145 



by right to Judah and Simeon. If he put himself under 
the Philistine king, Saul would despair of him. He could 
make it appear the advantage of King Achish to receive 
him into his territory. When he feigned madness before 
Achish, he was a fugitive almost alone. Now he brought 
six hundred warriors, some of them "men of might," and 
all of them somewhat trained. This would be an acces- 
sion not to be despised by a petty king whose sole posses- 
sions were a royal city and a few suburban towns. Achish 
would be glad, too, to take the* occasion to draw off so 
much force from the Hebrews. And he must trust to 
providence, to God's definite directions, and to his own 
skill, to escape into Judah if Saul should die. 

He, therefore, goes boldly down to Gath, and proposes 
allegiance to the king. He brings his wives and families 
into the royal city, which gives the Philistines security 
that these Hebrews are his own subjects. To the king, 
this is a desertion of his own country and alliance with an 
enemy. To David, it is simply a residence in his own 
rightful territory and city under compulsion, which the 
Philistine usurpers are just then enabled to enforce, and 
which he must resist by wile and strategem. To King 
Saul — we can see him as he hears of it — " Gone over to 
the Philistines ! Aha ! a godly man, indeed !"- David 
gains favor by his demeanor and the demeanor of his peo- 
ple in the royal city. His request for a town of his own 
• — indicative of his spirit and foresight — is granted. Such 
a permission we might at first think very remarkable, 
since it would give David an independent position ; but 
we need only remember that such a vassal was liable at 
any time to be ordered out to war, and that then the fami- 
lies occupying the town would be hostages for his conduct 
and return, to see that Achish not only felt himself safe, 
but was glad to secure so powerful a subject. 

Ziklag. where David takes up his residence for more 



1^.6 TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY. 

than a year, and which remained always afterward in his 
possession, is one of the unknown towns. But we can fix 
the region in which it was. It was in the "south" and 
in the tribe of Simeon, as the list of Joshua shows, where 
it stands next to Hormah. Centuries afterwards, when 
Nehemiah enumerates the officers of the restored kingdom 
and their cities-in-charge, Ziklag stands next to Beersheba. 
I seems reasonable to suppose, therefore, that it was not 
far from Beersheba, standing off on the south or south- 
west from the thirteen cities connected with the haunts 
of David, and some twenty or thirty miles from Gath. It 
was a city so far-off on the dangerous border that Achish 
probably had trouble enough with it. Here with his wives 
and with quite a population of the families of his increasing 
armies, David at last took up a residence within walls and 
gates. Here if Saul should attack him he would have 
the Philistines to contend with ; and here there are no 
inhabitants who can betray him. Only the rovers of the 
great desert, and their incursions, need to be looked 
after. 

Here David remains a year or more, for he spent part 
of the sixteen months in Gath. He rallies his confi- 
dence in God, but still as the weary months pass, he feels 
keenly that he is an exile from his own land. The Beth- 
lehemites are fearful that he may bring vengeance on their 
city. The Ziphites, tribe-neighbors to them, have betrayed 
him. He is buried like a dead man, away and unknown, 
in the land of Ziklag. Yet the Lord has heard his cry ; 
for he is not in the perils of mid-Philistia, but has a 
fenced city with a broad sweep of wilderness. Here David 
could not live so long without psalms and hymns through 
which to pray and praise. How often did he sing again, 
or gather some of the voices of his men around him to 
sing again psalms already composed during his troubles. 
New hymns, too, no doubt he added to those already 



'GONE OVER TO THE PHILISTINES." 



147 



written, one of which, expressing the feelings we have 
above supposed, may have been this 

PSALM OF DAVID. 

And "the leader of music " or " chief musician," to whom it was afterwards 
dedicated, may have been even then in the company at Ziklag. 

In thee, O Lord, do I trust ; let me never be put to shame. 

According to thy righteousness deliver me ! 

Bow down thine ear to me ; help me speedily ! 

Be to me a strong rock, a high fortress for my deliverance ! 

For thou art my rock and my high-fortress ! 



I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy, 

For thou hast looked upon my trouble 

And hast had regard to my distress : 

And thou hast not shut me up into the hand of my enemies 

But hast set my feet in a large place. 

Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble, 
For my eye is consumed with grief, 
Yea, my soul and my body. 



I have become the reproach of my neighbors 

And a fear to my acquaintances; 

They who see me abroad, flee from me; 

I am forgotten like a dead man. 

I am like a broken vessel, 

For I hear the slander of many. 

Fear is on every side, 

While they take counsel together against me 

They devise to take away my life, 

But I trust in thee, O Lord, 

I say, " Thou art my God." 

Blessed be the Lord, 

For he hath shown me his wonderful kindness 

In a fenced city. 

For I said in my haste, 

I am cut off from before thine eyes, 

But thou didst hear the voice of my supplication 

When I cried unto thee. 

Be of good courage 

And ye shall strengthen your hearts, 

All ye who hope in the Lord. —Psalm xxxi. 

The first signal act of David, after his families were 
established in Ziklag, was to make an incursion or raid 
upon the wandering tribes still further southward. Perhaps 



I48 TWENTY-SECOND SUNDA Y, 

he felt it necessary to keep his troops in use, and at the 
earliest opportunity to make his power felt against the tribes 
condemned to extermination. Warfare was rough and sav- 
age. The nomadic tribes of the south were perpetual and 
merciless marauders. The law of retaliation was the inter- 
national as well as the individual law. One of the special 
things in which David was to be a reformer was this work 
of just destruction. God's command to him was, as it was 
to Saul, to execute sentence on those incorrigible offend- 
ers. This David began to do by attacking and destroying 
certain bands of Geshurites, and of Gezrites or Gerzites, 
and of the Amalekites, who inhabited the wilderness on 
the road to Shur and Egypt. The road to Shur and 
Egypt was probably a road which, far below the country 
of these people, branched south to Shur, near the head of 
the Red Sea, and west to Egypt. Their clothing — and 
clothing is still a part of riches in the East — rich robes in 
part, perhaps, and their cattle of various kinds, David 
brought back to Achish, reporting that he had made a 
raid against " the south of Judah." And so it was, 
for Ziklag was far enough south. Possibly he kept 
within the letter of the truth, but he meant that King 
Achish should infer that his raid was against his own kin- 
dred. We cannot tell whether in those savage wars, and dur- 
ing the practice of oriental arts which were then accepted 
as honorable, such a deception would have been considered 
a violation of integrity. For more than in modern civil- 
ized warfare such prevarication, like the deception of 
espionage, was reckoned only a justifiable play of skill 
and wit. If we condemn it as a wicked thing, it was one 
of those strong temptations into which the impassioned 
David fell. 

The object was gained, however ; Achish gave him his 
confidence. When the Philistine army was summoned the 
next time to fight with the Hebrews, Achish sends word 



"GONE OVER TO THE PHILISTINES:' \aq 

to his Hebrew vassal. "Be ready: thou shalt go the bat- 
tle." With a wit and a manner which do not seem to be 
penetrated by the rude king, the ready captain says, "Cer- 
tainly. Thou shalt see what thy servant can do." Rely- 
ing on his recent fight against the Hebrews, and hoping 
to spur him on to greater achievements against his coun- 
trymen, and thereby to a wider separation from them, the 
king replies, " Then I will put you next my person, as 
keeper of my head." 

David, therefore, reported himself and his men at the 
place of rendezvous, from which the Philistine army was 
to march to the valley Jezreel — to the very battle in which 
King Saul was to be slain. A watchful Providence would 
see to it that David the Anointed should not destroy Saul 
the Anointed. 

There was a general gathering of the Philistines ; for 
the word lords of the Philistines is a word peculiar in the 
lists of Joshua, Judges, and Samuel, to the five Philistine 
lords of the five strong cities, Gaza, Ashdod, Askalon, 
Gath, and Ekron. Achish seems to have been the lead- 
ing king. Where Aphek was, we do not know, but some- 
where on the way from Philistia to Shunem, outside of 
the Philistine land,* and more than two days' journey 
from Ziklag. f Shunem, to which the Philistine army 
marched, is supposed to have been on the slope of Little 
Hermon, in the valley of Jezreel, three miles north of 
the city of Jezreel, and five miles north of Mount Gilboa, 
whither the army of Saul was hastening. From both armies 
the large and beautiful valley of Jezreel could be seen 
stretching north-west down to the great sea. At Aphek, 
however, as the divisions of the army go past, and Achish, 
at the post of honor, comes last, the five lords see the 
Hebrews, and at once suspect David. "What do these 

* xxix. n. f xxx. i. 



j^o TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY. 

Hebrews here ?" The representations of David's fidelity 
for a whole year, by Achish, do not disarm their indigna- 
tion and suspicion. Not without reason do they think 
that Achish is exposing not only the battle, but their own 
heads. " How will he get back to his king, but by turn- 
ing against us in the battle — this very David, whom they 
put in their songs and dances higher than Saul himself?" 
They held a consultation, and decided against him. And so 
King Achish was forced to commend David and his troops, 
and to send them home to Ziklag with all despatch. At 
morning light they started. As they took their two days' 
journey southward, the army of Achish was winding the 
heights of Mount Carmel to the battle — Achish to a tem- 
porary but glorious victory : David to freedom from Philis- 
tine vassalage and to the kingdom. 

From this very time onwards, David's troops increase 
until they become a great army. There was great excite- 
ment in the kingdom. Saul was weak in authority, and 
was himself in mortal terror when he saw the strength of 
the Philistines. The people were disaffected ; for some 
mighty and resolute men of Saul's own tribe, twenty five 
of whose names are recorded, skilled in slinging stones 
and shooting arrows with either hand, had either already 
come to David at Ziklag or now joined him. It may be 
the features of Benjamites in David's troops helped to 
alarm the five lords. 

Seven captains, or, as we would say, colonels, for they 
were captains of thousands in their own tribe, joined him 
as he turned back from the tribe of Manasseh. They saw 
no hope in Saul, and turned their fortunes in with David's 
at that opportune moment when the lords of the Philis- 
tines demanded that David be sent home. While the 
Philistine army passed through their own tribe up Mount 
Carmel, they turned southward with David to Ziklag. 
From that very time, every day, new troops gathered to him. 



^taitig-iljirir Suttimg. 



TAKEN AWAY IN WRATH. 



LESSON. 

i Samuel xxviii. 3-25 ; xxix. 1, 2 ; xxx. 1 ; xxxi. ; 2 Samuel i. 6-10 ; 1 Chroni- 
cles x. ; Deuteronomy xviii. 9-14 . Leviticus xx. 27 ; Exodus xxii. 18. 

IF we take now a broad look over the whole kingdom, 
we see it full of excited action. At the south, the city 
of Ziklag is smoking with fire. The Amalekites who have 
kindled the flames during David's absence are beating 
their retreat, their captives on their camels, into the far 
distant wilderness. West from Jebus, now rapidly advanc- 
ing to the dignity of a feudal lord, David pursues his leis- 
urely way southward, little imagining the disaster at Ziklag. 
The Philistines suspect and fear his power ; and each day 
of his journey gives him fresh accessions of numbers. To 
the north-east the whole strength of the Philistines pours 
down the upper slopes of Carmel towards Shunem and 
Jezreel. Along the "back-bone" of the land towards the 
mountains of Gilboa, King Saul hastens the rallied tribes 
to meet the enemy on the old battle-field of Deborah and 
of Gideon. The eastern part of the kingdom across the 
Jordan seems the only portion at peace and rest ; and 
from there we shall soon see Saul's kinsmen, the men of 
Jabesh-gilead, coming on a kind and an awful errand. 

We now follow the tragic fortune of the desponding 
king. Once pitched on Gilboa, the mighty forces of the 
enemy lie spread out on the plain below. It is less than 

(150 



152 



T II 'EX T V- THIRD SUN DA V. 



five miles to the furthest line of their army. They are out 
in the solid power of all Philistia, every prince and town 
in their full strength. Saul is afraid. Trembling seizes 
him. His army has never had a lofty faith in their leader. 
Confidence in him as a man and as a king is utterly 
shattered. He is conscious that his power has departed. 
God has left him. No dream directs him. The sacred 
lot cannot respond, for he himself has driven the high- 
priest and the ephod over to David. No prophet approves 
him or follows him. The frenzied king sees a great bat- 
tle and a great crisis imminent, and has no confidence in 
himself to direct the kingdom. Oh ! for an hour of Sam- 
uel's wisdom and of Samuel's power ! Yielding, therefore, 
again to the evil spirit which is upon him, he resorts to a 
wicked device which drives him on to his awful fate. 

There are conjurers and diviners in the land who claim 
to communicate with the dead. Perhaps it is possible to 
gain access to the good Samuel. The .pitiful and friendly 
prophet may take compassion on him in his strait ; and 
for the sake of the king and the kingdom which he estab- 
lished he may direct him. Just then and there, the^king, 
it is likely, passed through all that reasoning through 
which so many pass in our own day and in all ages have 
passed. He arrayed before his mind the alleged facts of 
spiritual communication from the unseen world, and the 
power to be derived from it, ignoring the subtle power of 
such spirits to deceive, and disregarding the command of 
God to seek Him only in his open revelation. Necro- 
mancy, enchantment, divination, and all the arts of the 
wizard were then associated with the sensual life of the 
heathen tribes, just as now much of modern spiritualism 
is associated with the doctrine and practice of " free love." 
These arts belonged to the very abominations for which 
God expressly ordered Samuel and Saul and David to 
punish those nations. And these things Saul had sternly 



TAKEN A WA Y IN WRA TH. Y 5 3 

prohibited, driving them out of the land, and making the 
diviners and conjurers tremble for their life. 

But notwithstanding all this, Saul in his frenzy deter- 
mines upon the desperate experiment. He will confront 
his own commands, defy his own conscience, that he may 
meet, through forbidden arts, information drawn from the 
unseen world. And God determines to meet him with in- 
formation true and terrible. 

He bids his servants rind for him a woman who pro- 
fessed to communicate with spirits. Perhaps he had heard 
there was one in this north country. They bring him 
word that there is one at Endor, seven or eight miles 
across the valley, over a broken and difficult country, and 
beyond the army of Achish. The distress of Saul's soul 
is so great and his passion so headstrong that no risk or 
difficulty will stop him. He disguises himself, and, taking 
two men with him, threads the dangerous path by night 
and obtains access to the woman. The very first words 
with which she confronts the king are, " Why do you seek 
my life ; for you know King Saul has made a capital de- 
cree against us ?" The woman evidently supposes them 
to be spies — Hebrew soldiers intent on reward or in obedi- 
ence to law — or else she takes her customary precaution 
against the betrayal of her illegal profession. On the 
solemn oath that she shall not be exposed, she asks whom 
they wish to see. When the king says " Samuel," and she 
secretly performs her incantations at so strange a request, 
to her consternation the actual form of Samuel appears 
before her. She recognizes at once the seer and the king, 
and cries out, full of alarm. Saul quiets her fear, puts 
her aside, and, proceeding to investigate the apparition, 
sees that God has truly permitted Samuel to appear. It 
is very evident from the description that Saul saw and 
believed the form to be Samuel's; that Samuel spoke to 
Saul in his proper character; and that Samuel made pre- 



j 54 TWENTY-THIRD SUNDA Y. 

dictions for the next day which could be made known only 
by God. " Why hast thou troubled me, to bring me up ?" 
says the august prophet. What a dismal confession does 
the king make, "lam sore distressed; for the Philistines 
make war against me, and God has departed from me, and 
will not answer me by prophets or by dreams; therefore I 
have called thee, that tlwu may est make known unto me what 
J shall dor " Pity me, and tell me what to do," is the 
cry of this weakling who should have been strong in heroic 
faith and heroic valor. It is too late : too late for pity 
from Samuel, or for instruction from Samuel, for one who 
has turned his back upon the face of God. " Why dost 
thou ask of me," is the solemn voice of this supernatural 
person in the silence of the night, "since Jehovah has de- 
parted from thee and thou hast made him thine enemy? 
Jehovah has done what I declared he would do. He to- 
rent the kingdom out of thine hand : he has given it to 
thy neighbor, to David. Thou knowest the reason. Thou 
didst not obey, thou didst not inflict his wrath on Amelek 
—in the crisis of thy character. Jehovah will also deliver 
over the kingdom, and thee its king, to the Philistines. 
To-morrow, thou and thy sons shall be with me." 

Terrible was this volley of thunderbolts. Terrible accu- 
sations of his conscience ! terrible reverberations down his 
guilty life ! terrible sentence already in process of execu- 
tion in the mustered armies! terrible doom of to-morrow ! 
The huge form fell back on the floor, faint with sense of 
guilt, with fright and with fasting. 

At length the woman and his servants aroused him. 
The woman saw that the king was in trouble and was 
faint. She had put her life in his hand, and now she 
wished to ingratiate herself by good offices. She killed 
her fatted calf; she baked hasty cakes of bread for him ; 
she compelled the three to eat for their strength. And at 
length they silently and cautiously departed. What a night 



TAKEN A WA Y IN WRA TH. 



155 



journey was that, as they took their way across the bed 
of the ancient Kishon, and as the stars were hastening 
from the morning light ! 

Dismayed or undismayed, there is no time for delay. 
The battle is pressed on in the morning by the enemy. 
With such a leader, the Hebrews have no spirit. With 
such tumultuous thoughts, Saul is no leader even to him- 
self. He rushes, in sheer desperation, into the front, and 
the enemy make head directly against him. The chariots 
and horsemen press closely upon him. The arrows pierce 




him. He is struck till he is "sore wounded" and ready 
to fall. In the very hands of these dogs, under their savage 
mockery, he is likely to die. " Thrust thy sword through 
me !" he cries to his armor-bearer, who either will not 
or dare not. He, therefore, falls heavily on his own sword, 
and his armor-bearer imitates him. Even then the king 
is not dead. As the margin reads, his coat of war hindered 
the fatal wound. Weltering in his blood and in anguish 
as he was, he calls to a man near to know whether he is 
Philistine or Hebrew, and, finding him an Amalekite, 



! ^ 6 T WEN T Y- THIRD S UNDA Y. 

commands him to stand on him and kill him. And thus 
the ignoble king, anointed of God to be a reformer and 
deliverer and victorious ruler of his people, set on his high 
career by a great prophet who had already for him inaugu- 
rated the reformation and the victory, dies beneath the 
feet of an Amalekite, a representative of the very nation 
whose guilty life he had spared. 

The Philistine army sweep past him and drive every- 
thing before them. Jonathan and his brothers fall. The 
citizens from Jezreel and Shunem and other towns, as well 
as the army, flee in utter rout. And the Philistines seize 
and hold the towns and the whole region. They even 
take and hold cities across the Jordan ! 

But the last disgrace is not yet offered to the apostate 
king. When, the next day, the Philistines come to strip the 
slain, in the barbarous practice of early war, they find the 
bodies of Saul and his three sons on the mountain-side. 
The king's head they cut off, as when David cut off Go- 
liath's. They send it in triumph with his armor down 
through their own country, publishing the glorious news 
abroad, and were greeted, no doubt, on their return, by 
songs and dances — as David was when he went up to 
Gibeah with Goliath's head — carrying his armor to their 
idol-temples, and fastening up his head in the temple of 
their fish-god Dagon. This is for glory and for exultation 
at home. But for revenge and savage triumph over the 
hated Hebrews in their own land, they carried Saul's body 
to one of the conquered towns. There at Beth-shan, in 
the valley of the Jordan, where the road descends from the 
valley of the battle to the south in the river-gorge, and past 
which, no doubt, the Hebrews had fled, they nailed the head- 
less trunk, with the bodies of his sons, against the gate,* as 



* See 2 Samuel xxi. 12, where the statement is that the body 
was taken down from the street. The two passages harmonize, 
if we consider the gate-wall the entrance of the street. 



TAKEN A WA Y IN WRA Til. \ 5 y 

a menace and taunt. The walls of Beth-shan were prob- 
ably not more than twenty miles from Jabesh across in 
Gilead. Moved with horror at the spectacle, and with 
grateful remembrance of the king whose first exploit in 
his royal career had been to deliver their city and their 
right eyes from King Nahash, the valiant men of Jabesh 
arose as one man. They pressed across the twenty miles 
by night ; they took down the bodies from the wall ; they 
brought them over to Jabesh ; they decently burned them 
there ; they buried the bones under an oak, and fasted 
seven days in honor of the dead and in solemn sense of 
the awful bereavement. 

The two sins for which King Saul is especially con- 
demned, as we read the record of his death, are disobe- 
dience to God and inquiry of unseen spirits. His life had 
been a wilful departure from implicit respect for God's 
word, and it had culminated in turning away from God to 
seek counsel from a source forbidden by God and by his 
own commands. His whole career was that of a wicked 
man, who filled his miserable place in history and gave 
awful truth to that saying of Jehovah : " I gave them a 
king in my anger, and took him away in my wrath." 



^fomijj-Jrmtrilj Sunbag- 



THE CROWN AND THE BRACELET. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel iv. 4, 10 ; 1 Samuel xxx. ; 2 Samuel i. ; 1 Chronicles xii. 20-22 ; 
Psalm xxxv. 

ONDEREUL are the preparations of Providence for 
/ V God's purposes. The preparations for the entrance 
of David on his reign were varied and wonderful. The 
high-priest, Saul by his own act had transferred to David. 
The disaffection of the people from Saul in his last days 
turned the latent thoughts of many in the tribe into an actual 
support of David at Ziklag. David was prevented from 
fighting against King Saul in his last battle by the Philis- 
tine lords. If he had fought among the victorious Philis- 
tines, he might have created a division among the people 
in respect to his fitness for the throne. If he had suc- 
ceeded in deserting the Philistines at the crisis of Saul's 
death, and in rallying the Hebrew army to victory, he 
would have had to assume the responsibility amidst the 
uncertainties in respect to the death of all Saul's sons, 
and the possibilities of a disputed command. As it was, 
he was called to the throne afterwards by the free action 
of the people. It was by the divine foresight that three 
sons of Saul's house were slain. In the panic which swept 
ever the land, at the rout of the Hebrew army, the next 
heir also to the throne in Saul's house — the first-born son 
of Saul's first-born, Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan — 
(153) 



THE CRO WN AND THE BRA CELE T. j $g 

was so crippled that his physical vigor was forever broken, 
and it is probable his mental force impaired. The nurse 
who had the child in charge was probably at Gibeah when 
she fled, carrying him on her shoulder, according to the 
custom; in her haste she stumbled headlong with such 
force that the son of Jonathan lost the use of both his 
feet, and so was deprived of the power, if he had the dis- 
position, to resist the new king. By an Amalekite's hands, 
too, the very crown and the bracelet (a golden "arm-band," 
a royal decoration) were now transferred to David. A 
prompt transfer, which shows where the thoughts of the 
people were. 

Let us now turn southward to David. There could not 
have been more than a day's difference between the time 
when David discovered the smoking ruins of Ziklag and 
the night of Saul's terror at Endor. For it was on the 
third day after David left Aphek that he reached Ziklag ; 
and it would not have taken more than two days for the 
Philistine army to reach Shunem from Aphek. David, too, 
was gone from Ziklag in pursuit of the Amalekites some 
two or three days ; and, when he had been in Ziklag again 
two days and a part of the third, the messenger arrives 
with the crown and bracelet and the tidings of the king's 
death. We may think of David and his men, therefore, 
mourning over the loss of their families as they come to 
Ziklag, while Saul is trembling with terror on Mount Gil- 
boa at the eve of battle, and of David plunging into the 
southern wilderness with utmost speed, or sweeping down 
on the Amalekite camp while the battle is raging in the 
plain of Jezreel. 

Bitter were the outcries of David's men when they 
found the city of Ziklag taken, and their wives, sons, and 
daughters taken captive by the fierce rovers of the desert. 
Frantic and exasperated in their grief, they are ready to 
mutiny against David ; for on him they lay the blame of 



1 60 T WEN T Y-FO UR TH S UNDA Y. 

compelling them to enter the Philistine army and leave 
the city defenceless. They speak of stoning him, although 
Ahinoam and Abigail, his wives, are captives, and David 
is in a frenzy of tears and grief like themselves. David, 
however, soon diverts them from rage and grief by direct- 
ing their attention to the hope of recovering their wives 
and children. God is righteous. He will help them and 
pursue with them. " Bid the high-priest come forth with 
the ephod. Let us sacrifice and inquire of God whether 
we can overtake the marauders." " Pursue," is the divine 
answer : " for thou shalt surely overtake them, and free 
them all." 

The nomadic tribes, which live by the plunder of each 
other, keep close watch of each other's movements. The 
Amalekites of the southern desert, therefore, knew that 
the whole Philistine strength was drawn off for their north- 
ern campaign, and that the south was left " uncovered." 
They may not have known at all that the Hebrew David 
occupied Ziklag ; for, when David made his raid on the 
Geshurites and Gezrites and Amalekites towards Shur, 
they might have supposed it was a Philistine raid. It 
was an extensive raid which they had made, reaching from 
the south of Philistia across Judah to the south of Caleb, 
the neighborhood below Hebron ; for they had taken 
" great spoil out of the land of the Philistines, and out 
of the land of Judah." They swept, therefore, com- 
pletely around Ziklag. And they felt secure enough 
after a short stage of homeward march into the wilder- 
ness. 

The pursuit of David and his six hundred was so eager 
in that hot and sandy district that when they came to the 
brook Besor — we do not know where the brook Besor 
was, but it must have been deep in the heart of the wilder- 
ness — two hundred were utterly faint and must be left be- 
hind. The four hundred press on till they find a famished, 



THE CROWN AND THE BRACELET. jfa 

fever-stricken Egyptian near the road. He was too far 
gone to call even, " Water, water !" They gave him bread- 
cakes, which he ate ; " they made him drink water ; a 
piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of dried grapes," 
they succeeded in making him take, and at length the 
poor body, which had been without food or drink for three 
days and three nights, began to show signs of animation. 
As they suspected, he was a slave belonging to the Amale- 
kite troops, and soon told them the story of the Amalekite 
raid ; and, on assurance of personal protection, was quite 
ready to lead the way to his oppressors. There were the 
Amalekite troops, eating and drinking and dancing, fully 
believing that no occasion could send back the warriors 
of Ziklag. When David surrounded them and came upon 
them, the surprise was complete. For a whole day, David 
fought them so skillfully that he recovered his own wives, 
the sons and daughters of his men, and their stolen goods 
and cattle, seized the flocks and herds of the enemy, and 
slaughtered their warriors. Four hundred young men who 
were alert, and who mounted their camels, escaped, and 
they only. This was the most complete success which 
David had yet had ; and the revival of feeling from grief 
to joy gave them all a spirit of exultation as they drove 
the abundant herds homeward. David himself was wise 
to take a quick advantage of the occasion. It was time 
to teach the men who were ready to mutiny to be proud 
of their master. And this he did as the droves passed by, 
when he said, "This is David's spoil." 

Another of those smaller crises, however, which test 
character, soon arose ; and in which appeared the self- 
possession and decision of David's character. When the 
two hundred faint warriors at the brook Besor came out 
to meet the victorious return, David saluted them gra- 
ciously ; but the spirit of selfishness was yet rife in the 
more discontented of his men, and they said, " We will give 



1 62 T WENTY-FO UR TH S UN DA Y. 

them none of the spoil ; they shall have nothing but their 
wives and children ; they did not go with us to the battle." 
In this they selfishly claimed that their pursuit and victory 
were owing entirely to their own power, and that the faint- 
ness of the two hundred was owing to their disposition as 
well as their weakness. But David at once recognized 
God as the one who directed them in the pursuit, and 
who conquered the enemy by them ; and said those who 
stayed behind had done their duty as much as those who 
went. And he maintained his position firmly by declaring 
that in his army the law should be, " He that stays to 
guard the stuff at home shall share equally with him that 
goes to battle." This decision, firmly and generously 
maintained on the very eve of David's promotion, made 
the rule an lt ordinance" during the whole reign of David. 

We assume now that, when David came back to Ziklag, 
he knew nothing as yet of the battle in the north. His 
heart had been torn by the recent struggles : Ziklag 
burned ! Abigail and Ahinoam captives ! his men in mu- 
tiny for grief! pursuit, rout, capture, slaughter, in the 
name of God ! clamor and command ! weary marching to, 
and triumph at smoking Ziklag ! Towards those enemies 
of the south, what fiery oriental imprecation burst from his 
soul ! 

But what anxiety, too, in respect to Saul and the Philis- 
tines. Where will he next be driven when one of them or 
both turn back upon him, — suspected, slandered, and hated 
as he is of both. 

The Thirty-fifth psalm may be considered as expressing 
both these attitudes of David's mind ; in the first part, 
a demand for justice on God's enemies, and in the second 
part, outcry against unjust and slanderous persecution. 

Contend, O Lord, with them that contend with me ; 
Fight against them that fight against me ; 
Take hold of shield and buckler 
And stand up for my help. 






THE CROWN AND THE BRACELET. Y 6^ 

Draw forth the spear and the axe against my persecutors. 

Say unto my soul, '' I am thy salvation." 

Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek my life. 

Let them be turned back with confusion that devise my hurt. 

Let them be as chaff before the wind ! 

Let the angel of the Lord drive them ! 

Let their way be dark and slippery. 

Let the angel of the Lord pursue them ! 

For without cause they have laid for me a snare, 

Without cause they have digged for me a pit. 

Let unforeseen destruction come upon them. 

Let their snare which they have laid catch themselves. 

Into that very destruction let them fall. 

And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord ! 

It shall exult in his protection. 

All my bones shall say, Who, O Lord, is like unto thee ? 

Who doth rescue the afflicted from the oppressor? 

The afflicted and the destitute from the spoiler ? 

False witnesses have risen up. 

They charge me with things of which I know nothing. 

They repay me evil for good, 

Even unto the spoiling of my soul. 

Yet I, when they were sick, was clothed with sack-cloth, 

I humbled my soul with fasting ! 

And my prayer be turned into my bosom. 

How long, O Lord, wilt thou look on ! 
O rescue my life from their destruction, 
My darling (life) from the young lions ! 

Judge me according to thy righteousness, O Jehovah, my God ! 

Let them not triumph over me. 

Let them not say in their hearts, 

41 Aha, we have our wish !" 

Let them not say, 

"We have swallowed him up !" 

Let them be confounded and brought to shame 

Who rejoice at my calamity. 

Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor 

Who exalt themselves against me. 

Let them shout for joy, and be glad 

Who favor my righteous course. 

Yea, let them always say, " The Lord be praised 

Who delighteth in the prosperity of his servant." 

And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness 

And of thy praise all the day long. 

David, however, foresaw the possible issue of every im- 
portant battle in which Saul was a personal leader, and 



1 64 T WEN T Y-FO UR Til S UN DA Y. 

knew that Saul's death was divinely determined and could 
not long be deferred. His quick mind now saw the oppor- 
tunity to strengthen his own power without opposing the 
king. He could send abroad to the people in the south 
the news of his triumph over their ancient enemies, and, at 
the same time, increase and create a feeling friendly to 
himself. A present of the spoil would indeed be only a 
grateful remembrance of the sympathy and the aid he had 
received from cities when he was less powerful than now. 
All through the breadth of Judah and Simeon, from Ziklag 
to the Salt Sea, and from Hebron southwards, he sent, 
therefore, his spoil of cattle and of garments to the elders 
at the city gates. Many a town through all that region — 
and there was hardly one not exposed to the attacks of the 
Amalekites — was most pleasantly affected towards David, 
as the " blessing" was brought to their officers. It was no 
selfish Nabal who had outwitted the Lord's enemies, but 
the generous grace and beauty of David and Abigail that 
embraced their friends in their joy and triumph. That two 
days' distribution at Ziklag proved both generous and dis- • 
creet at a most opportune hour of his human destiny. 

On the third day, a messenger came with all speed from 
the north. Earth was on his head, and his robes were rent. 
He enquired for David, and fell to the earth before him in 
profound salutations. In answer to David, he said that he 
came from the Hebrew army, escaping with his life ; that 
the Hebrews were routed, and that the king and his son 
were killed. To the question, " How dost thou know that 
Saul and Jonathan are dead ?" he told the story of Saul's 
overthrow, but he made prominent his own part in the 
death of the king. He said nothing of Saul falling on his own 
sword, but with evident satisfaction would have David be- 
lieve that he himself made sure his death. He produced 
the crown and the royal bracelet to show that his story was 
true. For his discernment between a falling and a rising 



THE CROWN AND THE BRACELET. i$* 

king, for his decision in transferring the kingdom when he 
saw so plausible an opportunity of disposing of the king at 
the king's own request, for the first tidings of the impor- 
tant event, and the prompt and safe delivery of the royal 
insignia, he was expecting some reward of wealth or hon- 
ors from " King David." With only Amalekite ideas of 
feuds and dynasties, he little knew the spirit of David. To 
David, there was an awful calamity to the nation, little 
comporting with this indecent attention to private interests. 
He rent his clothes, he mourned and fasted with his men 
among his own spoils, till evening, over the king and 
Jonathan and Jehovah's people and nation. There had 
been nothing like this since the death of Eli ! He called 
the young man before him again. He had heard him say 
he was an Amalekite. David was in no mood for Amale- 
kites. " Whence art thou?" he said. He answered, "I 
am the son of a stranger, an Amalekite." " How didst 
thou take the responsibility of killing Jehovah's anointed 
king? Who knows how God might have preserved him ? 
The story of thine own lips shows thee the murderer of the 
king. Thy blood upon thy head." As the proper avenger 
of blood — the king's son-in-law and privately anointed to 
the king's throne — David commanded him to be slain. 

We catch here a clear illustration of the manner in which 
the psalms were probably composed. In all elevations 
and depressions of spirits, David's feeling ran freely into 
poetic and pious expression ; and here, with his sensitive 
soul overwhelmed with grief at the personal and public 
loss, he pours out his pathetic elegy over Saul and Jona- 
than in an ode entitled 

THE BOW.* 
Published afterwards in the Book of Jasher : 
The beauty of Israel is slain 
Upon thy high places. 



* " Not only because the bow is referred to, but because it is a martial ode, 
and the bow was one of the principal weapons used by the warriors of that age, 



1 66 T WEN T Y-FO UR Til S UN DA V. 

How are the mighty fallen ! 

Tell it not in Gath ! 

Publish it not in the streets of Askelon, 

Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice. 

Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. 

Ye mountains of Gilboa, 

No dew nor rain be upon you, nor fields of offerings, 

For there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away — 

The shield of Saul, as if not anointed with oil. 

From the blood of the slain, 

From the fat of the mighty, 

The bow of Jonathan turned not back, 

And the sword of Saul returned not empty. 

Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, 
And in their death they were not divided. 
They were swifter than eagles, 
They were stronger than lions. 

Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, 

Who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, 

Who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel. 

How arc the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle ! 

Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places ! 

1 am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan ! 
Very pleasant hast thou been unto me. 

Thy love to me was wonderful, 
Passing the love of women. 
how are the mighty fallen, 
And the weapons of war perished ! 



and one in the use of which the Benjamites were particularly skillful. Other 
explanations are by no means so natural. It is beautifully significant that 
David required this ode to fallen Benjamites to be taught to the children of 
Judak."—Keil and Delitzsch. 



SCtomto-fiftfr Sunirtm, 



DAVID, KING OF JUDAH. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel ii. 1-7. 

IT was time now for David to act. He knew that he 
had been annointed king to succeed Saul. But he did 
not presume upon even this knowledge, confirmed, as it 
was, by Samuel the Seer, and by so many providential in- 
timations since the days of the anointment at Bethlehem. 
He had the high-priest and the ephod with him. There 
could certainly be no more important time than this to 
know the divine will. And it might be quite as important 
for him to know the method in which God would place 
him on the throne, as to know the fact itself that the time 
had come for him to be crowned. How was he to be 
crowned ? Where was he to be crowned ? Was his own 
tribe to act a leading part, or was it to be at the assembly 
of all the tribes ? From love and loyalty to Judah shall 
he go into a city of his own tribe ? or to avoid envy, shall 
he go outside Judah ? W T as the constitution of the king- 
dom by which he was to govern to be the same as that under 
which Saul reigned ? With a solemn sense of the impor- 
tance of his action, David, therefore, "inquired of God," 
as the Israelites did after Joshua's death, when his own 
tribe of Judah was the first directed to proceed with the 
conquest. There, at Ziklag, we see the humble-minded, 

(167) 



1 68 TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDA Y. 

valiant man. He has built an altar " apart," or returned 
to the altar at which he inquired of God whether he shall 
pursue the Amalekites. He has brought a goat for a sin- 
offering, "to make an atonement" for sin; and bullocks 
and sheep for a burnt-offering, to signify the dedication of 
himself to God ; with a thank-offering of flour, oil, and 
wine for God's blessings and benefits. He stands in the 
midst of his people, while the fire and smoke ascend to the 
God of his fathers, as Abraham stood in the midst of his 
own people, teaching them through Abiathar's minis- 
trations at the altar to conform to the law of Moses so far 
as the circumstances will permit. He communicates his 
prayer, " Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah ?" 
through the high-priest. He waits for the answer in the 
proper form, by lot, or voice, or dream, or vision, or pro- 
phetic insight.* His filial spirit has been nurtured through 
these ten years of persecution, his natural abilities strength- 
ened and softened and unified, his faith and love for the 
Lord Jehovah made broad and deep, the poetry and the 
utility of his nature developed in praise and toil, his whole 



it « -\y e ma y represent to ourselves the process of seeking 
counsel ' by Urim.' The question was one affecting the well- 
being of the nation, or its army, or its king. The enquirer spoke 
in a low whisper, asking one question at a time. The high- 
priest, fixing his gaze on the 'gems oracular' that lay 'on his 
heart,' fixed his thoughts on the Light and Perfection which they 
symbolized, or the Holy Name inscribed on them. The act was 
itself a prayer, and, like other prayers, it might be answered. 
After a time, he passed into the new, mysterious, half-ecstatic 
state. All disturbing elements — selfishness, prejudice, the fear 
of man — were eliminated. He received the insight which he 
craved. Men trusted in his decisions as with us men trust the 
judgment which has been purified by prayer for the help of the 
Holy Spirit, more than that which grows only out of debate and 
policy and calculation." — E. H. Plumtre, in Smith's Dictionary 
of the Bible. 



DA VID> KING OF JUDAH. 169 

character mellowed and matured. The answer comes, 
" Go up." "Whither shall I go up?" Perhaps Beth- 
lehem was in his thought. " To Hebron." At once prep- 
aration begins, the camels' and asses' loads are packed, 
the note and accent of high anticipations strike everywhere 
upon the ear, and with profound thoughts in the mind of 
the lordly sheikh who rides in the midst of his train, at 
early dawn the ascent begins. 

Now that Saul is dead, and the fear of his cruel and 
stubborn temper is no more upon the people, the career 
and character of David present themselves vividly before 
the people of his tribe. Throughout all that southern part 
of Judah, and throughout Simeon, which, from Joshua's 
death, has been a brotherly part of Judah, there is a quick- 
flowing reverence and love for that native of Bethlehem 
whose gifts have already made room for him. The people 
flock towards the south where they know David is, their 
hearts divinely prepared to welcome him whom Samuel 
anointed, and whose loving and valiant character has been 
so thoroughly tested in their midst from Gath to Engedi, 
and from Gibeah to the wilderness. 

To Hebron ! — always the strong city of Judah, since 
Caleb took it, and changed its name from " the city of 
Arba," the giant, to Hebron, " the Friend," in memory, 
no doubt, of him, who from his tent near by went up the 
eastward hills to see the smoke of Sodom. Beautiful it 
was, too, -'lying in deep repose along the vale of Mamre." 
Bethlehem was very likely at times its rival in the tribe. 
But Bethlehem was not so rich in historical associations. 
If Jacob came to Bethlehem after the vision in which he 
was named Prince of God, and in which he was told that 
a nation of kings should come from him, Abram came to 
Hebron after Lot chose the plain of Jordan and the garden 
of Gomorrah, and after God told him he would give the 
land to his seed forever — from here he pursued after the 



I jo T WENT Y-FIFTH S UNDA Y. 

four kings and recaptured Lot, and was returning here 
when Melchizedek met him ; here he saw that smoking 
furnace and that burning lamp that passed between the 
pieces of his offering ; and here before Isaac was born he 
was called Father of a Multitude. If Bethlehem had the 
sepulchre of Rachel, Hebron has the field and cave of 
Machpelah, where were buried first Sarah, then Abraham 
himself by her side, then Isaac, and at last Jacob, when 
Joseph came up from Egypt in state to bury him. If 
Bethlehem had Boaz and Ruth, Hebron had Isaac and 
Rebekah. If Bethlehem was recovered by Salmon from 
the Canaanites, Hebron was recovered from the giants by 
Caleb the spy, who had helped to bear aw T ay the grapes of 
Eshcol from the valley near. Here, too, at " Mature," 
sometimes so called from Abraham's Amorite friend and 
ally, the three angels came to Abraham's tent. And from 
Joshua's time, it had been a city of Levites and a city of 
refuge. There was no city in all the twelve states of 
United Israel which was so full of powerful associations. 
Let us look a little more closely at the town itself. 

This city, to which David is now marching in dignity 
and power, and where he is to be crowned by the graves 
of his patriarchal fathers, is in a deep, narrow valley, en- 
tirely surrounded by high hills which are themselves the 
tops of the central mountain range. It was twenty miles 
from Jebus and twenty miles from Beersheba, and about 
half-way from the Salt Sea to the Philistine plain. The 
winter streams from Hebron flowed south-west to "the 
great sea westward," although down the eastward side of 
the next ridge they ran to the Salt Sea. The little valley 
in which Hebron is, is about three miles long, and runs 
from north-west to south-east, opening into the larger 
south-west ravine, which bears its waters to the Philistine 
plain. Here at the southern end of the little three-mile valley 
is the city, low down on the eastern slope, but reaching 



DA VID, KING OF JUDAH. jy T 

across to tlfe western slope. The valley grows broad as you 
go north, and the rudely-paved road runs between stone 
walls of vineyards and olive-yards till it takes a north- 
east turn out of these hills on its rough and mountainous 
way to Bethlehem and Jebus. Vineyards cover the bottom 
of the plain, each with its walls and its stone lodge or 
tower in the corner, filled with the largest and best grapes 
in all Canaan. The slopes down to the valley are covered 
chiefly with olive-yards, terraced in many places ; springs 
and wells are numerous ; and the grove of terebinths or 
oaks is famous in David's time. Then the city was prob- 
ably more populous than now, when it numbers eight or ten 
thousand souls, The houses were all of stone, no doubt, 
as now, and high-built, with windows and flat roofs. Per- 
haps small domes like those now there, were on the roofs. 
There are no walls now, although one or two streets have 
gates. Then, it may be, the surrounding hills and towers 
were thought a sufficient protection. And if the town, 
then as now, was built in three clusters, the business or 
bazaar part on the eastern slope, with a northern suburb 
and a western suburb on the western slope, the " cities of 
Hebron" may be one town, without including smaller vil- 
lages on the circling hills and outward slopes beyond. At the 
large square reservoir of hewn stones between the bazaars 
and the western suburb and at the smaller pool — a stone par- 
allelogram at the north end of the business part — both very 
ancient structures, doubtless in David's time, you might 
have seen men and women filling their large skin bottles, 
or bearing them away on their backs. In the bazaar were 
butchers' stalls, with beef and mutton, killed and dressed 
after the Hebrew manner, so as to leave no blood ; raisins 
in abundance, and noted for their size ; delicious large 
oranges from the Philistine Joppa in the tribe of Dan ; 
pomegranates, figs, apricots, quinces, apples, pears, and 
plums from the hills around ; syrup, called dibs, made 



Ij2 T WENT Y-FIFTH S UN DA Y. 

from the juice of grapes ; skin bottles, and perhaps glass 
armlets, and oriental lamps like those now manufactured 
at Hebron. Cooler and better watered than the rest of 
the "hill country," high above most of the "dry and with- 
ered valleys," the mountains, indeed four hundred feet 
higher than Jebus, Hebron was just now rising into its 
most glorious period. For just now David is on his way 
to make this his royal capital for the next seven years. 

Behold the young sheikh as he comes yonder with his 
cavalcade up the south-west valley -road from Ziklag. 
The people have run forth to meet him, for the news has 
spread that he is coming. They are bringing him back 
with acclamation. People from Jattir and Aroer, and 
Eshtemoa, and Carmel, and Maon, and from the Kenite 
cities, are already in the town, or in yonder throng. The 
Ziphites tremble at the sight. He is now just thirty 
years of age. He is not large, but strong in frame and 
comely in form as he rides on yonder camel. His well- 
grown beard flows full from his handsome face, browned 
as it is with exposure, which his picturesque turban be- 
comes not a little. His loose outer robes are wrought in 
high colors, and are perhaps rich garments from the spoil 
of his enemies. His wives and women-servants ride prob- 
ably without a veil, since the use of the veil has increased 
in modern times. His captains and stout warriors, in va- 
rious costume, mounted on camels or asses, ride with their 
" hundreds." Children appear here and there with the 
women or the men throughout the long procession. All 
Hebron is alive with joy and shouts as the cavalcade winds 
down the ridge into the gate. The acclamations are 
swelled by constant arrivals from all parts of the tribe. 
The jargon of voices is something wonderful, for the ex- 
cited conversations of that oriental people are always vo- 
ciferous and loud. Quickness, good sense, and grace 
characterize the movejnents and speech of David, and lov- 



DA VID, KING OF JUDAH. j.73 

ing favor in the eyes of man and of God are the gracious 
gift of Jehovah to him. Beautiful is this sweet place in 
the eyes of the poet-warrior after the dr^ r desert and the 
long tempest-tossed persecution. All the families of his 
warriors follow him — a thousand people or more in all — 
who fill every vacant space, and after the public ceremo- 
nies, are assigned a residence in houses or suburbs, or ad- 
jacent villages. 

Without waiting to dispute the claims of Saul's house in 
the north, or to gain the assent of all the states of Israel, 
his own strong tribe is now ready to anoint David publicly 
to be king over their own territory. Simeon is in- 
cluded, as is evident from the region from which David 
came, and the help which had been extended to him there. 

Priests and Levites from the priestly towns of Jattir and 
Eshtemoa and Debir and Juttah and Bethshemesh and He- 
bron, have now gathered around Abiathar. A flask or horn 
of new anointing oil has been sacredly compounded — the 
myrrh, the cinnamon, the sweet calamus, the cassia, the 
olive oil, quickly forthcoming from wealthy families or 
priestly houses. A day is set — the morrow ; a place is 
appointed — the gate-court, or Abraham's oak outside the 
walls. Robes, brilliant in color and embroidery, woven, 
dyed, embroidered perhaps at Bethlehem, and preserved 
there in expectation of such a day as this, are assigned to 
the royal person. Arrayed in these, before the multitude, 
the handsouie young man of thirty years — frankness and 
force beaming from his face — stands forth. Abiathar, the 
high-priest, pours on him the oil — the symbol of divine 
right, and the people shout the acclamations, " Live the 
king ! Live the king !" 

The king's first public act is an act of grace and of wise 
policy. "The men of Jabesh Gilead," he is told, " buried 
King Saul." Forthwith messengers are dispatched to that 
distant city, with blessings on them for their kindness to 



174 



TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDA Y. 



the dead, and invoking Jehovah's favor for the good thing 
which they have done. By their success, he appeals to 
them to be strosg and valiant against the exulting Philis- 
tines ; and bids them know that the nation is not left with- 
out government, for his own tribe — the leader in Israel — 
have anointed himself kinsj over them. 



Cicrmig-sirflj SwnbcW. 



KING- ISH-BOSHETH. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel ii. 

THERE survived at least one resolute man of Saul's 
army — the son of Saul's uncle. This was Abner, the 
chief captain or general of Saul's army. He was a power- 
ful and unprincipled man. He had been, no doubt, Saul's 
adviser during his persecution of David. We meet him 
now as the stout opponent of David's claim to royalty. 
He was quick to lay claim to the succession in the 
name of Saul's house. Although Ish-bosheth was forty 
years old, he seems to have had little ambition or energy 
himself. Abner acted for him in this crisis. And as the 
Philistines drove the Hebrew army from the towns up the 
valley of Jezreel and commanded the heights of the central 
mountains, Abner established the new king, Ish-bosheth, 
in the stronghold of the east country. Mahanaim was the 
place where he had him crowned, a place of -which we 
know little, but which becomes a valuable point from its 
gathering historical associations. "We suppose that it was 
in the neighborhood of Jabesh-gilead and about eighteen or 
twenty miles east of Beth-shan.* It was the place at 

* Professor John A. Paine, of the American-Palestine Explora- 
tion Expedition, seems to have identified Mahanaim. He locates 
it " on the west side of Jebel-Ajlun, five miles directly down in an 

(175) 



176 TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDA Y. 

which the angels of God met Jacob when he was on his 
way to his brother Esau, and which Jacob then named 



*{ 



>* 






*4° 



lh-4 . 



^?--->gOfeZ«3-i 



*ne\*. 




^ 



extremely rough, wild country. The forest is the wood of 
Ephraim as perfectly as could be, and too rough for cultivation, 
except in openings, while the locality is an exact retreat for a 
fugitive; whether David or Ish-bosheth. The site is a small one 
where two little valleys join and enter a third, on the end of the 
tongue of land of the two. The ruins are quite late and not 
extensive. There is a fountain in the third valley, just above 
where the two joined enter, and the bottoms of the valleys are 



KING ISH-B SHE TH. \ jj 

Two-Hosts, or Mahanairn.* This strong place in the 
mountains of Gilead was now designed to be the temporary 
royal residence, until the national forces could be rallied 
and possession of the country regained. There Ish-bosheth 
was crowned king " over Gilead," east of Jordan, '* and the 
Ashurites" — we do not know who the Ashurites were, 
unless they were the Asherites of the tribe of Asher, on 
the great sea — " and over Jezreel," the strong city of the 
north, and over the two closely allied tribes of Ephraim 
and Benjamin, and over all Israel. As we shall see, Abner, 
in Ish-bosheth' s name, attempted to gain possession of the 
royal tribe of Benjamin, and for two years of war he 
maintained Ish-bosheth's royal right to the whole realm of 
Israel. 

David was king over Judah for seven and a half years. 
Ish-bosheth was king for two years. Was Ish-bosheth's 
two years during the first part or last part of David's reign 
in Hebron ? Probably towards the last part • for the 
acceptance of David's reign by the twelve tribes evidently 
follows immediately the death of Abner and Ish-bosheth. 
Even allowing a year and a half after Ish-bosheth's death 
for all the tribes, one after the other, to give in their alle- 
giance to David, we must still add four preceding years to 
the two years' reign at Mahanaim to make up the full seven 
and a half years. If David was crowned over all Israel at 
once after Ish-bosheth's death, then we must allow five and a 
half years to have transpired after Saul's death before Abner 
actually established Ish-bosheth across the Jordan. We 
may better distribute the time by placing about four years be- 
fore Ish-bosheth, and a year and a half after him. During 



still kept growing with fields of wheat. The present name is 
Mahana, as close to the old Mahanaim as anything could be." 
— Manuscript Letter. This is the site indicated more exactly in the 
map facing page 284. 
* Genesis xxxii. 2. 



Ij8 TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY. 

these four years Abner may have been fully occupied in 
driving out the Philistines successively from the Gileadite 
towns, from the " Ashurites," from Jezreel and its plain, 
from Ephraim and Benjamin. This was the natural order, 
and if this order was preserved, then he advanced regularly 
from east to west, and from north to south, till all Israel 
was his to the boundary of Judah. When he came to the 
boundary of Judah the army of David met him. 

In the north, we may suppose that the Philistines held 
possession of large and small towns during three or four 
years, but with a constant warfare from the tribes. Zebulun 
and Naphtali, "a people that jeoparded their lives in the 
high places of the field" in the day of Deborah, and 
Issachar, whose princes were with her against Sisera, could 
not have so utterly lost their ancient valor as to be content 
with the lordly Philistines in their towns. The middle 
and northern tribes at first hesitated whether to give in 
their allegiance at once to David. It is evident that 
Abner had influence over them and persuaded them to 
support Ish-bosheth's claims ; for, when Abner went over 
from Ish-bosheth to "David, he said to the elders, " Ye 
sought for David in times past" — ''both yesterday and 
the third day," the Hebrew runs — " to be king over you." 
We suppose, therefore, that for the first three or four years 
Abner was* occupied in arousing the people against the 
enemy, and in gaining over the consent of the elders and 
tribes to Ish-bosheth as their king. This at length they 
were not unwilling to do under the strong leadership of 
Abner himself; and the trans-Jordanic tribe, and the tribes 
from Benjamin and Ephraim northwards, accepted the 
proclamation of Ish-bosheth as king. Of course the region 
of Gilead, to the people of whom David sent his courteous 
message in hope that they would give allegiance to him, 
would naturally support Saul's house, not only from kinship 
and gratitude, but because the new capital was in their 
territory. 



KING ISII-BOSHETH. jyg 

Another man of mark now comes into conspicuous 
notice on David's side ; a man so strong that the success 
of David's kingdom has been attributed to him rather than 
to David. This is no less a person than David's nephew, 
Joab — a brave, fierce, decided, vindictive, ambitious man, 
who sometimes made his friends as well as his foes tremble 
by the tremendous impetuosity of his character. His 
brother Abishai, as we have seen, was with David at 
Adullam, and went at the price of his life to bring David 
a drink from the well at Bethlehem ; but this is the first 
place at which Joab appears. He now appears, however, 
as the captain or general of the army, blowing the trumpet 
and commanding the men. It is a fair inference that he 
had already been some time in David's camp. We catch 
a glimpse of military excursions and raids against the 
Philistines, Amalekites or other enemies during these 
years, in the glimpse which we have of Joab at the head of 
David's servants as they " came in from' pursuing a troop, 
and brought in a great spoil with them," just after Abner 
was gone. We may be sure that David gave the Philistines 
occupation and alarm enough at home to induce them to 
draw off some of their forces from the north and middle of 
the land. Abner on the one side, Joab on the other, we 
shall find to be two daring, passionate, and unscrupulous 
men, who each brought upon himself at last a violent 
death. 

Sooner or later the two armies under the two captains 
were sure to meet. Perhaps in no district easier than 
in Gilead — the land of kindred, and where Saul's 
rescue of their city Jabesh from the cruel Nahash could 
never be forgotten — could Abner gather forces to maintain 
Saul's cause. Strong athletic men they were too, those 
hardy highlanders of the east country. With a consider- 
able army, therefore, Abner had descended the hills of 
Gilead, crossed the Jordan ford, swept clear the valley of 



l8o TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY. 

the ancient Kishon, and advanced down the central moun- 
tains. At last on a new campaign, his troop issued from 
his eastern capital, pushed down the Jordan gorge, climbed 
the passes of Ephraim or Benjamin, and sat down as in 
challenge, at Gibeon. Joab, out of the smiling valley of 
Hebron, led his troops over the familiar path northward' 
past Bethlehem and the frowning Jebus towards the central 
plateau of the country. From between a northern and 
a southern army, the Philistines gradually withdrew. 

Gibeon, where the armies met, was about six and a half 
miles north of Jebus. If the tabernacle was now at Gibeon, 
the place was important to each of them. Here in the 
"land of Benjamin" came the contest between the two 
determined men, the one set on the recovery of his own 
tribe and the re-establishment of the throne within the 
ancestral borders ; the other, valiant for the divinely 
anointed king, and, we may be sure, not a little valiant for 
Judah and for Bethlehem. There is a pool at Gibeon to 
this very day, about one hundred and twenty feet long and 
one hundred feet broad, which may well be the pool on 
either side of which the armies encamped. 

A challenge is sent across from Abner to Joab, half in 
pleasantry and half in earnest. " Let the young men arise, 
and play before us." This was a challenge to a friendly 
mock-battle as a trial of strength, as the word "play" may 
denote, or to decision of the contest by champions. Twelve 
Benjamites and twelve warriors of Bethlehem and the hill 
country of Judah meet in the open space between the 
opposing ranks. If they began in sport, they soon turned 
to earnest. Left-handed Benjamites and right-handed men 
of Judah, they caught each other by the head, wrestling 
with each other and thrusting their swords into each other's 
sides, neither party, as it would seem from the record, 
entirely mastering the other, until all or nearly all had 
fallen in a pretty equal contest upon an undecided field ; 



KING ISH-BOSHETH. jgi 

but the courage, strength, fortitude, and martial skill which 
were displayed were so heroic on either side that the place 
was named The Field of Strong Men. 

The spectacle fired the battle-spirit. The day became a 
day of battle — in the first civil war since the time of the 
insurrection of Gibeah and Benjamin against the Theocracy. 
The army of Abner was driven before Joab towards the 
wilds between Gibeon and the Jordan. The fleet-footed 
Asahel chased Abner himself to capture or to slay him. 
More than a match for the defeated general in speed, 
Abner is more than a match for him in strength and skill. 
Well knowing that Joab would be a fierce avenger of blood, 
and moved, perhaps, with pity for the more gentle and 
more lovable Asahel, he bade him be content with the 
spoil of some other warrior than himself, and not compel 
him to turn upon him. And when the over-confident 
young ma^i pressed too closely on his very person, with one 
powerful blow he struck the sharp hind end of his' 
spear entirely through his body, and left him dying on the 
ground. The pursuers who came up gathered around the 
dead body, while Joab and Abishai took up Asahel' s pur- 
suit through the rough descent till the sun was going down. 
The scattered Benjamites, however, gathered themselves 
around their leader on the top of a rocky hill ; and, when 
Joab and Abishai came up, Abner appealed to him to call 
off his men, and put a stop to this fraternal and civil con- 
flict : " Command your people. Why permit them to 
slaughter their own brethren ? Have you not victory 
enough without a bloody pursuit ? Shall this thing go on 
for ever ? Think of the bitter end." 

This Joab accepts as a token of submission, but there is 
the very fire of heroic energy in his answer : " As God 
liveth, . unless thou hadst spoken," and cried, Enough, 
" surely not until the morning light had the people ceased 
to follow every man his brother." On the instant, he blew 
the trumpet and sounded the retreat. 



1 8 2 T WENT Y- SIX Til S UNDA Y. 

That very night both armies departed homewards, 
Abner and his men marching through the Jordan valley, 
and across the river, and through the Broken country 
(Bithron) probably of the ascent east of Jordan, until they 
came to Ish-bosheth's capital in the highlands of Gilead; 
Joab and his troops, with the body of Asahel, twelve or 
fifteen miles to Bethlehem, where they left the body of his 
brother, and then fourteen miles further to Hebron at the 
break of day. 

The loss on David's side was twenty men, including 
Asahel, and on Ish-bosheth's side, three hundred and sixty 
dead, besides the wounded. There were, therefore, at 
least from four hundred to eight hundred men on a side in 
the two armies, and probably many more. 



Ctomtg-scimtilj Sunbag." 



ABNER AND JOAB TRANSFER THE KINGDOM. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel Iii. iv.; i Kings i. 6 ; 2 Samuel xiii. 37, 38 ; 1 Chronicles iii. 1-4. 

FIXING in mind, therefore, the time between Saul's 
death and Ish-bosheth's coronation as a period of 
about four years, let us see how the events in the north 
and south of the land harmonize with this distribution. 

At Hebron, we now see David with six wives, accord- 
ing to the usage of polygamy. When he came up from 
Ziklag, he had but Abigail and Ahinoam. Whether his 
successive marriages were the result of policy by which he 
sought to strengthen his power by alliance with strong 
families, or was only from affection, some time must have 
transpired for the four marriages to take place. On the 
simplest supposition, four or five years do not seem too 
long a time. And if Eglah was the same person as Michal, 
Saul's daughter, as tradition has it, she was not welcomed 
back by David till near the end of his reign in Hebron, as 
we shall soon see.* 

Abigail and Ahinoam, as we have already seen, were 



* Eglah is for some reason called in this enumeration both in 
2 Samuel iii. 5, and 1 Chronicles iii. 3, " David's wife." The 
birth of her son is also mentioned last of the six children born 
in Hebron, which harmonizes with the fact that she did not come 
back to Hebron till at least six of the seven vears had passed. 

(133) 



1 84 T WENTY-SE VENTH SUN DA Y. 

from the lower part of Judah. If Eglah was Michal, she was 
from Benjamin and from Saul's house. Of Haggith's fa- 
ther and Abital's early home we know nothing. But we 
know that Absalom's mother, Maacah, was from Geshur, 
a city and perhaps a district belonging to the tribe of 
Manasseh, east of Jordan, the inhabitants of which con- 
tinued to dwell among the Manassites.* Geshur was far 
north on the east side of Jordan, half-way from the 
Sea of Chinnereth to Damascus, and was considered as 
belonging to the general region of Syria. To his grand- 
father Talmai's distant home Absalom afterwards fled, when 
he had slain his own brother Amnon. There is a tradition 
that Maacah was taken by David in battle, and advanced 
to the position of his wife. 

Six children were born to David during the seven and 
half years in Hebron, some of them, we may suppose, be- 
fore the war with Saul's son. Three of these children 
were destined to wring with anguish their father's tender 
heart by their wilful ways and violent death. For Amnon 
the first-born was murdered by Absalom ; and Absalom 
w r as slain for treason by this very Joab who now at Hebron 
saw the beautiful baby ; and Adonijah, who, like Absalom, 
inherited his father's beauty, and who was a wilful and in- 
dulged childf, attempted to seize the throne in his father's 
old age, and was afterwards executed for treason by his 
younger brother King Solomon. Absalom's own daughter 
or granddaughter, who was wife of King Rehoboam and 
mother of King Abijah, was named Maacah, very likely 
for his mother Maacah. On the supposition that the 
mother Maacah was like her son Absalom and her de- 
scendants Rehoboam and Abijah, we may see in her the 
not unusual combination of beauty and a wilful temper. 
In this larger city of Hebron, in greater wealth and more 



* Joshua xiii. 13 ; 1 Chronicles ii. 23. f 1 Kings i. 6. 



THE KINGDOM TRANSFERRED. 185 

imposing display, we now begin to see around David as a 
centre, the home-scene which we have pictured around 
Jesse at Bethlehem thirty-five years before. 

The battle of Gibeon we place immediately after the act 
of crowning Ish-bosheth. The open act of crowning that 
weak man prince was of course considered by all the peo- 
ple as a challenge of David's supremacy. We consider 
this battle the opening of a two years' war between the 
rival houses. Frequent were the contests, now under 
David, now under Joab, on the one side, and under Ab- 
ner on the other. The power of David steadily increased, 
and the weakness of Ish-bosheth became more and more 
evident. 

The resolute Abner, however, considered himself, as he 
was, the real manager of Ish-bosheth's kingdom. He did, 
therefore, what in the ancient East was common in the 
successor of a king. The domestic household of a deceas- 
ed king belonged to the one who took the throne. Abner, 
therefore, in a conscious independence of his subordinate, 
Ish-bosheth, took Rizpah, Saul's concubine, for his own, 
either in marriage or adultery — as Adonijah afterwards 
wished to take Abishag, the surviving wife of David, for 
his wife, and was condemned for treason.* 

Weak as Ish-bosheth was', he could not brook an offence 
which was both the assumption of royal rights and an in- 
sult to himself. In answer to Ish-bosheth's indignation, 
Abner plainly told him that Saul's house was upheld by 
himself against David, and that he ought to be thankful that 
he had not delivered him up to David. After all his wis- 
dom and energy, was he a dog's head, that he did not know 
his rights ! Like Herod, when reproved by John the 
Baptist in this very region, Abner was in lofty and haughty 



' r Kings ii. 22-25. 



1 86 TU T EN T ] '- SE VEX Til SUN DA Y. 

anger. He cowed the feeble king by threatening to take 
over to David the whole nation from Dan to Beersheba. 

There was another motive now, no doubt, against Ish- 
bosheth in Abner's mind. The trans-Jordanic kingdom 
was failing, and he might be chief in a powerful govern- 
ment under David if he would bring to David these north- 
ern and eastern tribes. The very incident forced him to a 
new course of action ; and he determined to make use of 
his occasion, to put his threat into execution. He sent 
messengers down to Hebron to make a league with David, 
offering to transfer the tribes. David was quite ready for 
such a league, but he was wise enough to insist on one 
condition first of all — the immediate restoration of his 
early wife, Michal. This was a matter of policy as well as 
of affection, for it transferred the only surviving member of 
Saul's family besides Ish-bosheth to himself. He, there- 
fore, at once enforced his claim to Michal by sending mes- 
sengers to Ish-bosheth demanding her restoration. It was 
also a test whether Abner would really surrender the inter- 
ests of Saul's house to that of David. Ish-bosheth sent for 
her, of course with the consent or advice of Abner. 

Gallim, the home of Phaltiel, was no doubt somewhere 
in Benjamin, although Phalliel and Michal may both have 
been at Mahanaim. The husband followed the wife with 
whom he had lived from twelve to seventeen years with 
outcries and tears. The public necessities of her reunion 
with David, however, were imperative ; and at last, at 
Bahurim, probably about three miles from Jebus on their 
way up along the Jericho road, Abner was imperative — 
"Go; return." It was death for Phaltiel to disobey. 
The league was, therefore, established ; and Abner set 
himself about the reconciliation of the northern tribes to 
David. It was not a very difficult thing to do. He 
probably went to the prominent cites, like Jezreel and 
Beth - shan and Shechem and Gilgal and Mizpah and 



THE KINGDOM TRANSFERRED. jOy 

Gibeah, and assembled the elders of the city or of the tribe. 
He reminded them that they had formerly wished to make 
David king.* He said, " The time has come. It is the. 
will of God, for He had said, By the hand of David I will 
save my people from the Philistines and all enemies." He 
carried even Benjamin with him by his persuasions, and 
then went with an escort of twenty men to represent to 
David the attitude of the tribes. At an oriental feast David 
entertained Abner's company ; the compact was concluded 
and confirmed by rites of hospitality, and King David 
dismissed his important guest to gather the proper civil 
and military representatives by which the submission 
should be made. 

It is possible that this visit and feast of Abner were 
timed to take place when Joab was absent. David knew 
Joab from a child — his retaliatory and vindictive spirit; 
and had not Abner slain God's creature, the light-footed 
Asahel ? Laden with spoil, Joab's troop returned to 
Hebron to learn the news that Abner and his escort had 
been there to make proposals to the king. Joab fired 
at once. He saw a dangerous rival. He remembered 
who was Saul's right arm in the persecutions. He saw 
the man that killed his brother. He suspected a spy — a 
subtle and acute foe. He saw the chance to extinguish 
the rival kingdom. He asked, Where is he ? He quickly 
took his resolve. He plunged into David's presence, and 
upbraided him for receiving Abner. " Did he not know 
it was only to spy him out ? " David did know the bloody 
- fierceness of Joab, and read even Abner better than he. 
Forthwith, without a word to David, Joab sends messen- 
gers with words for the parting captain to return. And 
when Abner returned, in implicit reliance on David's good 



* i Samuel xviii. 5 ; 1 Chronicles xi. 2. The numbers which 
had deserted to David before Saul's death showed the people's 
heart. 



!88 TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY. 

faith, he basely murdered him. He did it, too — for Abner 
knew the dangerous man — under the pretence of a private 
peaceful conference. Abashai was his accomplice in the 
crime. 

There is no justification of this murder. Joab did not 
kill Abner as the avenger of blood, for the deed was done 
in the very gate of the city of refuse. Abner, too, tried 
to spare Asahel, and had at last slain him only in self- 
defence. The awful crime filled the soul of David with 
horror, and provoked from his lips a fierce oriental curse 
on Joab and his house. He has slain a guest in violation 
of customs of hospitality. He has treacherously pretended 
to be friendly. He has misrepresented the spirit of the 
king to his own kingdom, leaving the people to think 
David had conspired to entice Abner by a hospitable feast 
to his death. He had put m peril the recovery of the 
northern tribes by basely killing the man through whom it 
was to be brought about, and sending abroad the rumor 
that the new king was blood-thirsty, savage and treacherous. 
The very soul of David was rent with anguish, and to the 
very end of his life he remembered the awful crime of 
Joab as a crime that deserved by every human and divine 
law a just retribution. Joab, however, ha.d taken him at a 
disadvantage. He was then too strong and too important 
to him for the young king to take the punishment into his 
own hands ; but, with great energy, David declared him- 
self and his kingdom free from complicity. He denounced 
Joab in the awful words of Moses's curses on those that 
break the divine commandments. He made Joab rend 
his clothes before the people, and wear ' sackcloth and 
mourn for Abner. The king himself followed the bier and 
made lamentation with the oriental waiiers at a grave pre- 
pared in Hebron, and denounced over him again the 
horrid treachery by which Abner had lost his life, and the 
wicked men who took it. He would eat nothing till the 



THE KINGDOM TRANSFERRED. ^g 

sun went down. He eulogized Abner as a prince and a 
great man fallen. He said it was a weakness and a blot 
upon his kingdom. He confessed himself too tender for 
the hard hands of his sister's sons, but said the Lord him- 
self shall execute justice one day upon this wickedness. A 
tremendous judgment it was to which his bold and bloody 
independence brought Joab at the end of his long and 
powerful life ! 

David acquitted himself in the eyes of the people from 
all this guilt. His deep and tender horror over Joab's 
murder, won their hearts everywhere. All things had, 
however, worked together to strengthen the throne at 
Hebron. Abner's death broke the power of the northern 
kingdom. While the fierceness of Joab's temper made 
the people at home tremble *at his very name, his name 
struck terror to the Israelites under Ish-bosheth. King 
Ish-bosheth himself, without Abner, was utterly feeble. 
And as in all revolutions, so now there rose up men with 
private injuries to revenge on the heads of. the falling. 

How is it that these two captains, Baanah and Rechab, 
could so interpret David's disposition as to suppose that he 
would triumph over the head of Ish-bosheth ? What was 
there so heathenish in their disposition as to venture on 
boasting of the assassination before him ? A single glance 
will show us that they were descendants of Canaanites, 
and were probably animated by personal revenge against 
the house of Saul. They were " Beerothites." 

The inhabitants of Gibeon, that in the days of Joshua 
" did work wilily " with old sacks, and rent wine-bottles, and 
clouted shoes, and mouldy bread, and that did by league 
become "hewers of wood and drawers of water," dwelt in 
four cities : Gibeon, Chephirah, Becrot/i, and Kirjath- 
jearim.* They were a remnant of the Amorites. King 



* Joshua ix. 17. 



! g Tl VEN T Y-SE VEX Til S UN DA V. 

Saul, who was so easy with Agag, in a mad zeal to do 
something against the heathen, had broken the nation's 
solemn compact with them, and " sought to slay them."* 
It is evident that it was a bloody work which Saul did, for 
the Gibeonites exacted a bloody atonement afterwards. 
Beeroth was in Saul's own tribe, about ten miles north of 
jebus ; and it is very probable that it is this act of Saul's 
persecution and cruelty which is alluded to when it is said 
that " the Beerothites fled to Gittaim." Gittaim was prob- 
ably either another city of Benjamin or a Philistine city ; 
so that the Beerothites, like David, may have been com- 
pelled to go over to the Philistine country. At any rate, 
it seems likely that their Amorite fire was kindled at the 
first opportunity against the house of Saul. Trained 
under such a king in his own tribe, they retaliated with 
his own weapons. 

Whether there was a- remnant of Ish-bosheth's army in 
existence we are not informed. At any rate, these two 
captains knew, something of the king's habits. Very 
likely they had belonged to the body-guard of the King, as 
Saul's body-guard were taken from the tribe of Benjamin. f 
They conceived the satisfaction of retaliating on Saul's 
house and of reward from David for extirpating the last 
hope of Saul's kingdom. In broad noon-day, they came 
to the king's house. It is the still and inactive part of the 
day, in the house of a quiet and irresolute man. " They 
entered the palace, as if to carry off the wheat which was 
piled up near the entrance. « The female slave who, as 
usual in Eastern houses, kept the door, and was herself 
sifting the wheat, had in the heat of the day fallen asleep 
at her task. They stole in, and passed into the royal 
bed-chamber where Ish-bosheth was asleep on his couch. 
They stabbed him in the stomach or abdomen, cut off 



* 2 Samuel xxi. 2. f 1 Chronicles xii. 29. 



THE KINGDOM TRANSFERRED. \^ Y 

his head, made their escape — all that afternoon, all 
that night — down the valley of the Jordan ('through the 
plain,' that is, through the arabah, the Jordan valley), and 
presented the head to David as a welcome present."* 

But David's policy was settled against all secret mur- 
ders. He took the high position, so unlike oriental chiefs, 
that assassinations weakened his kingdom. Following on 
the heels of Abner's murder, he was in no heart for another 
murder plotted to help his cause. He was strong enough 
without it ; and it was both a blot and a wickedness. 
When, then, the two captains held up the ghastly head of 
Ish-bosheth, as the achievement of their marauding boldness, 
David met them with stern indignation. By a solemn oath, 
he reminded them of what he had done six or seven years 
before to the Amalekite at Ziklag. And he solemnly told 
them their crime was even greater. In the quiet of their 
own home they had murdered an inoffensive person whom 
he himself held righteous. They should die the death for 
their dastardly crime. He ordered them to be executed. 
According to the usage of that rough time, he had their 
hands and feet cut off, and hung up over probably one of 
those reservoirs at Hebron which are still there, and ever)' 
heathenish Beerothite and Gibeonite was taught that the 
King's sense of justice was loftier than his ambition. The 
head of Ish-bosheth was reverently buried with the body 
of his great kinsman and captain of his host, in the sepul- 
chre where the king and his people wept over Abner. 

* Stanley. 



Cfotnfg-ttjgljtlj Swniratr. 



PSALMS IN HEBRON. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel ii. n ; v. 5 ; Psalms lviii., xxvii., xxvi., lxxxvi., and cv. 

WE are now on the eve of David's coronation over the 
whole kingdom. But how is it that we do not meet 
with any of David's psalms during this whole seven years 
at Hebron ? Is Dr. Robinson right when he says, " In 
Hebrorj, too, he probably composed many of his psalms, 
which yet thrill through the soul and lift it up to God?" 
We have seen that some psalms were composed while he 
was driven before Saul. We know that some were com- 
posed shortly after Jebus was taken, and the ark of God 
brought home to that new capital. It does not seem at 
all likely that just between these two points of his life the 
young king's poetic soul was unstirred by the great events 
of the reign in Hebron. There, in Hebron, was now com- 
pleted the peaceful establishment of his family and of the 
families of his men, who had so long been persecuted 
rovers. There his anointment over the powerful Judah at 
the direction of God. There was the gracious heroism of 
the men of Jabesh, who buried the Lord's anointed. There 
was the intrigue and manipulation of Abner in the north, 
in opposition to Samuel's prophetic declarations that the 
son of Jesse should be king. There was the lofty challenge 
and heroic struggle at the Field of Strong Men, and tragic 
(192) 



PSALMS IN HEBRON. 193 

fate of Asahel. There was the providential transfer of 
the unscrupulous Abner to the execution of the Lord's 
plan for the kingdom. There was the revenge of Joab and 
Abishai. All these were events on which a purely human 
imagination might have seized for lofty or pathetic expres- 
sion. Indeed, over one of them David's soul did flow 
forth in rhythm and melody : 

11 Died Abner as a fool dieth ? 
Thy hands not bound, 
Thy feet not put into fetters, 
As man before the wicked, so fellest thou." 

However frequent we may imagine the expression of 
poetic sentiment by David during this time, that por- 
tion of it which was preserved for sacred use conveyed 
general rather than local thought. We cannot certainly 
locate a single psalm at Hebron. There is no allusion to 
that city by name in any title or in any line of the psalms. 
There are, however, several psalms which may most ap- 
propriately have been written during this early period of 
the young king's rule. Let us look at five psalms, in re- 
spect to which we see no good reason why they should not 
be located just here. Let us take first the events over 
which we have just passed, and which ploughed David's 
very soul so deep — Joab's atrocity and the assassins' u ret- 
ribution." At both these times the great fires in David 
burst forth in heat and flame of speech, cauterizing and 
consuming the crimes and the criminals. Even Joab must 
have quailed at the vehemence of the king's rebuke, and 
have been dismayed as the curses and vindictive predic- 
tions opened before him the thundering justice of Sinai itself. 
But David's solicitude was more for the people than for 
Joab. The impression made on their minds must have 
been much more powerful if he embodied his sense of 
retaliatory justice towards Joab or the assassins or both in 
an intense poetic expression like the Fifty-eighth psalm. 



194 



TWENTY-EIGHTH SUXDA Y. 



The psalm is bat another expression of the law of Mosaic 
retribution, and justifies at its close its own terrible denun- 
ciatory appeals to God to suppress iniquity : 

A PSALM OF DAVID 
For the leader of music. To the tune of" Do not destroy." 
Do ye indeed administer justice faithfully, ye mighty ones ? 
Do ye judge with uprightness, ye sons of men ? 
Nay, in your hearts ye contrive iniquity. 
Your hands weigh out violence in the land. 
The wicked are destroyed from their very birth. 
Their lives go astray, as soon as they are born. 
They have poison, like the poison of a serpent, 
Like the deaf adder's, which stoppeth her ear, 
Which listeneth not to the voice of the charmer, 
And of the sorcerer, skillful in incantations. 

Break their teeth, O God, in their mouths ! 

Break out the great teeth of the lions, O Lord ! 

May they melt away like a stream of water, 

When they aim their arrows, may they be broken ! 

May they be like the snail, which melts away as it goes. 

Like the abortion of a woman, that seek not the sun ! 

Before your pots feel the heat of the thorns, 

Whether fresh or burning, may they be blown away ! 

The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth such vengeance. 

He shall bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked. 

Then shall men say, " Truly there is a reward for the righteous. 

Truly there is a God who is judge on- the earth !" 

—Noyes's Tratislation. 

When David is first peacefully established on the throne 
of his native tribe, we would naturally expect first some 
exultation of spirit, or at least some elevated satisfaction ; 
and, therefore, first in order of time, we would look for a 
psalm expressive of satisfaction -pr of thanksgiving and praise 
to God. Such a psalm is the Twenty-seventh — the title of 
which in the Septuagint locates it before the anointing. 
Read it with a backward glance on David's long persecu- 
tions, with a forward glance to David's first public act af- 
ter he gained the whole kingdom, the act of re-establishing 
the tabernacle-worship ; read it with the conception of a 
growing desire for several past years in David's soul to re- 



PSALMS IN HEBRON. j g 5 

form Saul's abuses of the national religion, with the thought 
that David's aged parents, brought back from Mizpah of 
Moab, had at last died, and that there were enemies in the 
northern tribes who hated and maligned the young king, 
and we shall see how entirely appropriate it is to the cir- 
cumstances of his early reign : 

The Lord is my light and my salvation, 

Whom shall I fear ? 

The Lord is the shield of my life, 

Of whom shall I be afraid ? 

When the wicked came upon me to devour me, 

Even my persecutors and enemies, they stumbled and fell. 

Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear : 

Though war should rise against me, yet will I be confident ! 

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that do I yet seek : 

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, 

To behold the glory of the Lord, 

And to gaze upon his temple. 

For in the day of trouble he will hide me in his pavilion ; 

Yea, in the secret place of his tabernacle will he shelter me. 

He will set me upon a rock ; 

Yea, already doth he lift my head above my enemies who are around me ; 

Therefore, in his tabernacle will I offer sacrifices with the sound of trumpets. 

I will sing, yea, with instruments of music will I give praise unto God. 

Hear my voice, O Lord, when I cry unto thee ! 

Have pity upon me, and answer me ; 

When I think of thy precept, " Seek ye my face !" 

Thy face, Lord, do I seek. 

O hide not thou thy face from me, 

Cast not thy servant away in displeasure ! 

Thou hast been my help, do not leave me ! 

Do not forsake me, O God, my helper ! 

For my father and my mother have forsaken me, 

But the Lord will take me up. 

Teach me thy way, O Lord, 

And lead me in the right path, because of my enemies ; 

Give me not up to the will of my adversaries ! 

For false witnesses have risen up against me, 

And such as breathe out injustice. 

I trust that I shall see the goodness of the Lord 

In the land of the living ! Hope thou in the Lord ! 

Be of good courage ; let thy heart be strong : 

Hope thou in the Lord. —Noyes's Translation. 

We trace in this psalm those alternations of devout cour- 



ig6 TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY. 

age and devout dependence which were one striking char- 
acteristic of David's piety. 

We may expect at this time also some sentiments put 
into the lips of the people, which declare his own purpose 
as a Ruler. God has raised him up to re-erect the law of 
righteousness. The time had not yet come when he could 
re-establish the national worship, but no doubt he did con- 
struct, during those seven years in Hebron, some order of 
worship, where the people around the altar could render 
their devotions and receive instructions worthy of a priest- 
ly and royal city. In such a place, the young king's voice 
and example might have expressed the sentiment of a 
psalm which refers back to the general spirit of his past 
life, to his present convictions, and to his future purposes. 

A PSALM OF DAVID. 

Be thou my judge, O Lord, for I have walked in mine integrity. 

I have trusted in the Lord, therefore I shall not fail. 

Examine me, O Lord, and prove me, 

Try my veins and my heart. 

For thy loving-kindness is before my eyes. 

And I have walked in thy truth. 

I sit not with vain persons, 

And go not in company with dissemblers. 

I hate the assembly of evil-doers, 

And do not sit with the wicked. 

I will wash my hands in innocence, 

So will I go around thine altar, O Lord, 

To utter the voice of thanksgiving, 

And tell of all thy wondrous works ! 

O Lord, I love the house of thine abode, 

And the place where thy honor dwelleth ! 

Take not away my soul with sinners, 

Nor my life with men of blood, 

In whose hands is mischief 

And whose right hands are full of bribes. 

But as for me, I will walk in my integrity. 

O redeem me and be merciful to me. 

My foot standeth in a level place. 

In the congregation I will bless the Lord. 



We may be sure that such expressions of sorrow for sin 






PSALMS IN HEBROX. i^j 

as have been expressed in psalms already cited,* were in 
Hebron repeated both in public and in private, for this is 
necessary to reconcile the deception and duplicity of 
which he had been guilty, with the divine favor which we 
know approved his personal and kingly character. Here 
was the king of broad and humble mind, in the midst of a 
tribe and a nation of fierce, savage, fighting men, who 
were ready to justify every retaliation and bitter reproach 
and bloody revenge with all the intensity and narrowness 
of an avenger of blood — a king, of just and pure mind in 
an age of hacking swords, bloody passions, and physical 
ambitions. 

Sometimes during those seven years at Hebron his ten- 
der heart was no doubt depressed at the long-continued 
resistance of Saul's house, the hostile power of Abner, and 
the refusal of ten tribes to accept the Lord's anointed. 
Seven years were a long time to wait patiently on the 
Lord for the kingdom to which in his early youth he was 
anointed. It was a discipline to make his soul humble 
and mellow, as he thought of the sins into which he had 
been betrayed during his persecutions. How many thoughts 
passed through his mind at such an hour : the sins of 
his youth up to Saul's death, Iris personal guilt in the cause 
of this delay, the violent reproaches which reach his ears 
from the jealous tribes of Benjamin and of Ephraim, the 
rumors of Abner' s strength, the danger to his tender off- 
spring, the strange departure of the tribes from the divine 
will, the prospect of civil war, and the miserable destruc- 
tion of the whole land ! In such a mood as this, perhaps 
just as Joab is to lead forth his army for the first time 
against Abner at Gibeon, we may suppose the Eighty-sixth 
psalm — " a Prayer of David " — to have been composed. 
Without quoting them in full — for its expressions are 



* See Psalm xxv., on page 141, and Psalm xiii. on page 129. 



1 98 T WENT Y-EIGHTH S UNDA Y. 

general — we may notice such allusions as the follow- 
ing : 

Bow down thine ear, O Lord, and hear me, 

For I am poor and needy. 

Preserve my soul, for I am one thou favorest. 

Save, thou my God v thy servant that trusteth in thee. 

Be merciful unto me, O Lord, 
For I cry unto thee daily. 

For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive, 
And plenteous in mercy unto all that call upon thee. 

Among the gods there is none like thee, O Lord ! 

And there are no works like thy works. 

All the nations whom thou hast made 

Must come and worship before thee, O Lord ! 

And shall glorify thy name. 

Teach me thy way, O Lord, 

I will walk in thy truth. 

Unite my heart to fear thy name. 

I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with my whole heart. 

And I will give glory to thy name for ever ; 

For great is thy mercy towards me, 

And thou hast delivered my soul from the depths of hell. 

O God, the proud have risen against me, 

Bands of violent men have sought my life. 

Show me a token of thy favor, 

That my enemies may see it and be confounded, 

Because thou, O Lord, hast helped and comforted me. 

The One Hundred and Fifth psalm is one which may 
have well been composed in Hebron, although the first 
of it was first published for public use at the entrance of 
the ark into Jerusalem, a year or two later.* Where more 
powerfully than at the very graves of the three patriarchs 
would the associations prompt David to call, — 

Talk ye of all his wondrous works, 



Remember his marvellous works which he hath done, 
His wonders and the judgments of his mouth. 



, * I Chronicles xvi. 7. 



PSALMS IN HEBRON. 



I 99 



O ye seed of Abraham his servant, 
Ye children of Jacob his chosen, 



and to say, — 

He remembereth his covenant for ever, 

The word he commanded to a thousand generations. 

The covenant he made with Abraham, 

And his oath unto Isaac, 

Which he confirmed to Jacob for a decree, 

And to Israel for an everlasting covenant. 

" To thee," said he, " will I give the land of Canaan 

For the lot of your inheritance, 

When they were but a few men in number, 

Yea, very few, and strangers in it !" 

After his defence of the Lord's anointed, how natural, 
too, are his words, — 

He suffered no man to do them wrong, 
Yea, he reproved kings for their sakes. 
Saying, Touch not mine anointed, 
And do my prophets no harm. 

At no time could the rehearsal of the history of God 
among his people have been more opportune than in the 
early days of his reign, for the purpose of teaching the 
people, — 

That they might observe his statutes 
And keep his laws. 

Two things united to form here the beginning of that 
psalmody which under David advanced into so important 
a place in the New Tabernacle. David's long persecu- 
tions ripened his character early, and he was, therefore, 
likely to judge the outcry of his own heart in distress the 
outcry of others in their distresses. And that poetic genius 
which could not be suppressed, would be likely to.preserve, 
collect, and make use of the psalms already composed. 



Chxenin-nmijj Sxtnbag. 



THE CORONATION. 



LESSON. 

a Samuel v. 1-5 ; 1 Chronicles xi. 1-3 ; xii. 23-40 ; Deuteronomy xvii. 14-20. 

THE whole nation now was "knit together as one 
man" to accept and crown King David. Not a 
tribe was unrepresented. Every tribe was ready with 
numbers and with power. The wise elders that at Saul's 
death desired David for king, but were compelled to yield 
to Abner's power over the people or over other tribes, 
gladly turned to Hebron. The good everywhere were 
glad that Saul's miserable house had come to an end. 
They said it was the will of God that David should reign, 
that Samuel the Seer had truly and secretly anointed 
him king, and that God had been with him. They spoke 
of his valor against Goliath and against the enemies of the 
nation ; of his beautiful magnanimity towards King Saul. 
They believed David that it was no thought of his to slay 
Abner the son of Ner. Even the tribe of Benjamin was 
won over, and came with three thousand men to Hebron. 
Ephraim, from whom Joshua came, and within whose 
boundary was Shiloh, and that was so near of kin to Ben- 
jamin, yielded his jealousy and sent a great multitude — 
twenty-eight thousand eight hundred mighty men of valor, 
well established in reputation — to hail the young king. 
The seven years' waiting had not been in vain. All the 
(200) 



THE CORONATION. 201 

tribes had learned the necessity of union; After being 
humbled by the tremendous victory of the Philistines over 
Saul, they had been perplexed and distracted, and at last 
further humiliated and made wise by the decline and death 
of Ish-bosheth. With one heart, therefore, they accepted the 
manifest will of God ; and rallied not simply by represen- 
tatives, but by armies. M anasseh on the west and Ma- 
nasseh on the east sent her thousands. The eastern tribes 
across the Jordan, surrendering the temporary capital at 
Mahanaim, put on the march to Hebron, fully equipped, 
one hundred and twenty thousand men. Issachar, in the 
valley of Jezreel, whose men were intelligent and sagacious 
observers of the times, sent two hundred representatives, 
to place all their brethren at the command of King David. 
From Zebulun by the Sea of Chinneroth came a hearty 
fifty thousand ; from Naphtali, still further north, thirty- 
seven thousand ; from Dan in the farthest north and Dan 
on the borders of Philistia, twenty-eight thousand six hun- 
dred; and from Asher, on the great sea above Carmel, 
forty thousand experts. The peaceful house of Levi was 
not without its representatives. Jehoida, the leader of 
the priests,* brought thirty-seven hundred priests ; and 
the Levites added, made up forty-six hundred. Among 
these was a young priest, Zadok, who became priest with 
Abiathar, who it appears now came over from Saul's house 
and who proved David's friend to the very end. The 
tribes of Judah and of Simeon were, of course, present in 
their fullest force, six thousand eight hundred from Judah 
that bore " shield and spear," and from Simeon seven 
thousand one hundred warriors. Three days this great 
multitude — over three hundred thousand people, a num- 
ber which recent wars have taught us may be assembled 
in a small territory — were at Hebron in great convocation 



* "The Aaronites ;" Hebrezv, [those] " of Aaron." 



202 TWENTY-NINTH SUNDA Y. 

and festivity. To feed this mass of people their brethren 
made ready. The nearest tribes were all astir. The backs 
of asses and of oxen were piled with bread and meal, and 
cakes of fig and clusters of dried grapes, and skins of wine 
and oil. Droves of sheep and of oxen might have been 
seen all along the roads from "the south," and from the 
hill country north to Hebron. Even from Issachar, a 
tribe likened by Jacob to a strong ass crouching between 
two burdens, and from Zebulun and Naphtali, came loaded 
camels and mules bearing the same generous burdens, and 
teaching the people along their way that a new era had 
dawned. The nation was animated with a new life. 
" There was joy in Israel." 

After that great assembly was fully gathered and ar- 
ranged in hospitable order in the valley of Hebron, and 
had overflowed upon the outward slopes, the formal so- 
lemnities took place. The elders of the tribes and of the 
cities and the chief of the priests came to David in the 
city. They first expressed their national and loyal attach- 
ment : " Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh." They 
next expressed their confidence in his abilities and their 
appreciation of his past services : " Even when Saul him- 
self was king, it was thou that leddest out and broughtest 
in the nation." They said to him, thirdly, "that it was 
the will of God that he should reign, and that he had been 
already acting in Hebron by divine direction :" " The 
Lord thy God said unto thee, Thou shalt feed my people 
Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel." 
Then David made his reply, himself presenting, the record 
intimates, the compact by which the king is bound to God 
and the people are bound to him and he to them. 

What was this covenant or league ? Probably the same 
in form as that laid down by Moses in Moab, and to which 
the people had bound themselves at Saul's anointment. 
That Mosaic law, providing for kings and a kingdom, 



THE CORONATION. 203 

contained, it will be remembered, the following condi- 
tions : 

The king must be approved both by the people and by God. 

The king must not be a foreigner, but a native Hebrew. 

The king must not multiply horses, like a warrior for 
foreign conquest, nor for the purpose of importing horses, 
keep up a traffic with Egypt. 

The king must not, in royal marriage, have many wives. 
His heart must not be turned away by many alliances, 
and so tempted to favoritism to his wives' relatives at 
home, or corrupted by royal houses abroad. 

The king must not aim to make himself rich. 

On the other hand : 

The king must study and understand the Mosaic law on 
the duties of kings, and keep a special copy of it for his 
own use. 

The king must be loyal to the divine law, and make it 
supreme above his own will and the will of the people. 

We have already considered the application of these 
conditions of the kingly office of Saul. Let us now ob- 
serve their application to David. 

At the coronation at Hebron, we see now the sincerest 
union of the divine and human choice. Long since, the 
divine selection was signified by God's prophet. Years 
of persecution and years of tried abilities as a tribal king 
have tested David before the people, and at length have 
won their full consent and admiration. 

As for his Hebrew blood, it was from the most honor- 
able lineage, running back to Boaz of Bethlehem ; to Sal- 
mon, captain at the fall of Jericho ; to Nahshon, brother- 
in-law of Aaron the high-priest, and one of the twelve 
renowned of the congregation in the wilderness. Ruth 
was a Moabite, but she had freely become a proselyte of 
her own accord, and her pious devotion to the God of 
Israel was noted. 



204 T WENT Y-NINTH SUNDA Y. 

David, we shall find, did not create cavalry in his mili- 
tary operations. We shall soon see that when he captured 
a thousand chariots and their horses from Hadadezer, to- 
wards the Euphrates, he "houghed" or ham-strung the 
horses of nine hundred chariots. Although he reserved 
horses enough for a hundred chariots — that is, two hun- 
dred horses — yet he may be said to have kept within the 
scope of the reqirement : " He shall not multiply horses 
to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the 
end that he should multiply horses." 

But what shall be said of the divine condition, "Neither 
shall he multiply wives " ? David at this very time has 
six wives. Saul'% daughter was taken from him by force, 
and, probably without hope of seeing her again, he mar- 
ried Abigail and Ahinoam. One of his wives, Maacah, 
was of the house of a subordinate prince, the king of 
Geshur. Whether this number, in that age and land of 
polygamy — when often a large harem was kept — was a 
transgression of the condition, "multiply" or take many 
wives, we cannot tell. Whether the spirit of that rule was 
that, if the alliances were at home rather than abroad, we 
cannot tell. But David's wives were a small number com- 
pared with Solomon's seven hundred — a transgression of 
that wise king which brought idolatry and corruption and 
domestic misrule into the royal house. 

The whole career of David shows that he did not appro- 
priate the wealth of the nation avariciously to himself. 
His generous spirit was in the very spirit and letter of that 
part of the compact. 

As to David's study and enforcement of the Mosaic 
law and his loyalty to the faith, his whole life is an open 
testimony to his general fidelity. 

It was such a " covenant " or compact as this recorded 
in the Book of Deuteronomy, or such parts of this gen- 
eral outline as were there divinely appointed, to which 



THE CORONATION. ' 2 0$ 

David and the people assented " in Hebron before the 
Lord." 

•Sacrifices were offered on an altar as at Saul's inaugura- 
tion. The ark itself may have been transported in 
solemn procession to Hebron for the occasion, as the 
oft-recurring phrase, "before the Lord,"* here seems to 
imply solemn sanctions were received in answer by the 
ephod. Assent was given to the solemn declarations of 
the "covenant" on the one side by the elders, and on the 
other by King David. And then Abiathar, in the presence 
of a multitude of priests and of elders from hundreds of 
cities, poured the holy oil from the horn upon his head, 
saying, " I anoint thee king, in the name of the Lord." 
The young priest Zadok, who stood by, survived to do the 
like service thirty-three years later, at the coronation of 
King Solomon. 

We have no record of the use of a crown. There can 
be hardly a doubt, however, that it was in use, and as 
Saul's crown and bracelet had been a royal badge to him, 
that the ceremonies were completed by placing the crown 
upon his head and hailing him king with the Hebrew 
acclamation : " Let the King live ! Let the King live ! " 

Sacrifices and feasting in the city and through all the 
tents and assemblies of the tribes around, filled up the three 
days, .till the joyful people departed, glad in the union of 
their nation and the reassured tokens of the divine favor. 



* See Judges xi. n; xx. 26 ; xxi. 2; Joshua xviii. 8; 1 Samuel xxi. 
7 ; 2 Samuel vi. 21 ; vii. 18 ; Exodus xxxiv. 34 ; Leviticus i. 3, etc. 



Cjmfutlj Smtimg. 



THE CAPTURE OF JEBUS. 



* LESSON. 

2 Samuel v. 6-10 ; Joshua xv. 8, 63 ; Judges i. 8, 21 ; xix. 10-13; 1 Chronicles xi. 
4-9; xxi. 18; 1 Kings ii. 10; viii. 1; Psalm cxliv. 

THE kingdom was now consolidated, the members 
healthily articulated into one body politic. It was 
plain now to ordinary sagacity that the capital of the king- 
dom should be more central than Hebron. It would not 
be easy to build up a long, united reign, with a capital so 
partial in its location as Hebron. Where should the future 
capital be ? Should David transfer the throne to Shechem, 
the old tabernacle town, in its central beautiful vale, and 
gather around him in that town of Ephraim his own tribal 
kinsman, Ephraim and Judah would be certain to vex each 
other with jealous suspicion and intrigue. Gibeah in 
Benjamin was in bad repute for its own sake and from 
Saul. There was one place, strong and central, harmon- 
izing the interests of the tribes — the natural stronghold of 
centuries, just on the border of Benjamin and Judah. It 
was within the tribe of Benjamin, so that all the children 
of Joseph would be content with its position, and so near 
to all Judah that that strong tribe would be pleased. It 
had the advantage, too, of a fresh place, unembarrassed by 
past associations. If it could be taken from the enemy, 
the very triumph would give glory as well as unity to the 
national capital. That place was the frowning citadel of 
(206) 



THE CAPTURE OF JEBUS. 2 0? 

Jebus. on which David had no doubt fixed his eye. as the 
natural center of power, from the time when he was 
anointed over Judah. Many a time since the days of 
Goliath, as he passed that rocky fortification, his thoughts 
mounted in holy challenge of the heathen Jebusite power. 
One day he would drive them off their throne ! 

The strength of Jebus at that time is shown in a single 
fact that for four hundred years, in the very heart of the 
land, it had defied the whole nation. Hebron and lesser 
mountain towns, and even Hazor of the north, were taken 
at the conquest. Indeed, the outside portion of Jebus 
seems to have been conquered, but the real fastness had 
never fallen. It looked down in defiance and in contempt 
on all the marches of Abner and of Joab. 

Let us see if we cannot obtain some conception of 
Jebus as it was before it became Jerusalem. The city of 
Jerusalem now sits upon two hills, or two forks of a rocky 
peninsula jutting up between great gorges in the moun- 
tains. These two hills, or two forks like the prongs of a 
tooth, are divided by a narrow valley, which in the progress 
of twenty-six sieges during almost thirty centuries has 
been filling up. 

One hill is the east hill on which the temple was after 
David's time built ;• and we know that on the west side of the 
east hill — the side, of course, sloping towards the west hill — 
are now massive and high walls, built up from the bottom 
of the separating valley. The east hill is a hundred feet 
lower than the west. We know that this east or temple- 
hill was bought by David near the close of his life from 
Araunah the Jebusite. From the time of David's capture 
of Jebus to the days of the purchase, therefore, it was a 
winnowing-floor. It must, therefore, have been free from 
high walls, which would have kept off the wind. Were 
this so, Araunah's hill was outside of the city. That it 

m 

was either entirely outside of the city or surrounded by 



208 



THIRTIETH SUN DA Y. 



inferior walls, seems evident from the fact that " Araunah 
the king," " tia&Jebusite" retained possesion of it. That 



m I 

■hi 

III! 



-# V '^" N 




lower and outside suburb had once long since been taken 
by the Hebrews, and its inhabitants were in closer relations 



THE CAPTURE OF JEBUS. 209 

with the Hebrews than those of the upper city, as we shall 
presently see there is reason to conjecture. The real 
stronghold, then, was on the west and upper hill, two hun- 
dred feet or more higher than Araunah's threshing-floor.* 
Whether the spies saw this towering height of rocks, with 
its strong walls above, and the abrupt, deep ravines around 
it, or only heard the fame of it, they brought back word 
forty years before the conquest of Canaan : " The cities 
are walled and very great," and "' the Hittites and the 
Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the mountains." After 
Joshua took Jericho and Ai, the next battle was with 
Adoni-zedek, the king of Jebus,f and hiafour confederates 
when he captured the five kings in the cave at Makkedah, 
and hung them on five trees, on that famous day when the 
sun stood still on Gibeon. But they could not carry Jebus 
all the years of Joshua's life. After Joshua's death, Judah 
and Simeon were ordered by the divine oracle at Shiloh or 
Shechem to lead the nation in completing the conquest. 
As they marched southward they had a battle and victory 
at Bezek, where they took prisoner and punished the fierce 
and cruel sheik, Adoni-bezek, and swept on to Jebus. J 
There they fought against the city, and took it, and put it 
to the edge of the sword, and set it on fire. Josephus says 



* " The holy city is built upon a series of rocky spurs close to 
the water-shed or back-bone of Palestine, and it appears to be 
quite certain, from the nature of the surrounding country, that in 
early times the site of Jerusalem was a series of rocky slopes, 
the ledges covered here and there with a few feet of red earth. 
When, therefore, we get down to the surface of the rock, we get 
down to that surface which presented itself to view in olden 
times before the first inhabitants built their city." — Recovery of 
Jerusalem, p. 245. The dotted line in the MODERN elevation 
of the mountains and city, represents this rock surface. The 
other elevation may be taken to represent something of its 
ANCIENT appearance. 

f Joshua x. 1-4. \ Judges i. 1-8. 



2 1 o THIR TIE Til S UN DA Y. 

they besieged the city, and took "the lower city" after 
considerable time spent in the siege, but that " the upper 
city was not to be taken without great difficulty, through 
the strength of its walls and the nature of the place," and 
that for this reason they drew off their forces to Hebron. 
This explanation of Josephus may be taken as a reasonable 
explanation or conjecture in respect to that early capture 
of the city. 

If it took considerable time to capture the lower city, 
and after taking it they could not take the upper city, 
there must have been an inferior wall outside the impreg- 
nable citadel and around the lower city. When it is said 
still later, therefore, that "the children of Benjamin did 
not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem, but 
the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin* in 
Jerusalem unto" the day the Book of Judges was written, 
we see the rocky height still frowning as a foe, but the 
lower city in an intercourse more or less restrained with 
the surrounding people. The Levite journeying with his 
wife and servant from Bethlehem to Mount Ephraim could 
have entered into the city and lodged there had he not 
said, " No ; it is the city of a stranger." There stood the 
defiant city that looked down on the civil war which raged 
over the Levite' s wife and over Gibeah, and glad that 
a tribe was well-nigh extinguished ; the city that had dared 
the bravest judges of the land, that smiled contemptuously 
at the craven spirit of Saul of Gibeah — the lofty, steep, 
rocky fortress of centuries. 

When, therefore, David, at the head of all Israel, deter- 
mined to assault the city, and two hundred thousand war- 



* In Joshua xv. 63, the reading is: " The children of Judah 
could not drive them out, but the Jebusites dwell with the chil- 
dren of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day." Jebus was on the 
line of both tribes, and the two tribes very likely were mixed in 
their residence there. 






THE CAPTURE OF JEBUS. 2 II 

riors from Hebron came swarming over the mountains on 
the south and up the ravines of Hinom, Gihon, and Kidron, 
the Jebusites laughed in derision. They barred their gates, 
and mounted their lame and blind on the walls, and rang out 
the challenge down the ravines, " The blind and lame are a 
match for you all ! " David's whole soul was fired. It was 
like the challenge of Goliath again ! "So he took the lower 
city by force," says Josephus, " but the citadel held out still." 
That is, he took either Araunah's lower city, or the lower 
part of the northern part of the western hill. We may 
imagine the haughty challenge renewed from day to day 
like the challenge of the Philistines' champion. The spirit 
of an insulted army rises with the spirit of the leader. 
"Behold the defiant enemies of God, who offer insult to 
Jehovah," says the king ; " the impudent lame and blind, 
hated of the king's very soul. Their security and bravado 
shall be their weakness and ruin. Find out a place to 
scale -the very precipice ! Whoever climbeth the steep and 
dasheth them down the rocks, shall have the command !" 
The intrepid Joab is no man to have the command taken 
from him, if another should scale the wall before him. 
" All were ambitious to ascend," says Josephus ; " but 
Joab prevented the rest, and, as soon as he was got up to 
the citadel, cried out to the king, and claimed the chief 
command." Fierce Bethlehemites and hardy Ephraimites 
and mountaineers from Gilead poured in, we may suppose, 
past Joab on the wall, driving down the astonished inhabit- 
ants, throwing open the lower gates, and admitting the 
triumphant Hebrew thousands. " It was the often-repeated 
story of the capture of fortresses through what appeared 
their strongest, 'and therefore became their weakest point. 
' Steep, and therefore neglected.' Such was the fate of 
Sardis and of Rome, and such was the fate of Jebus."* 



* Stanley. The explanation of the last part of 2 Samuel v. S, 
' Wherefore they said, the blind and the lame shall not come into 



2 1 2 THIR TIE TH S UN DA Y. 

Once in possession of the city, David immediately made 
his residence in the fort or castle, that is, in the strong- 
hold or citadel of the town, the south-eastern part of the 
present city. It was the stronghold of Zion — Zion, the sunny 
place or the dry place, a name which now appears for the 
first time, given either before by the Jebusites or later by 
the Jews. This rocky citadel the king proclaimed to the 
nation "The City of David," and built it up from "The 
Ramparts" ("Millo") round about, a mound of defence 
somewhere towards the east hill.* The repair of the rest 
of the city, so far as it was broken down by the assault or 
had fallen into decay, was under the direction of Joab, fa- 
mous for ever now as the Taker of Jebus and Commander 
of the Royal Army. 

The fame of this wonderful .victory went everywhere 
abroad. It filled Benjamin and Ephraim with admiration 
and delight. It was a victory of centuries. It solidified 
the government, and gave David at once a sure seat on 
his throne, f From Naphtali to Simeon, the mind of every 



the house," appears to be this: Wherefore it grew to be a proverb 
in regard to any impregnable fortress, "The blind and lame are 
there : let him enter the place if he can." — Fergusson, in Smith's 
Dictionary of the Bible. 

* " ' From Millo and inwards.' The fortification 'inwards' 
must have consisted in the enclosure of Mount Zion with a strong 
wall upon the north side, where Jerusalem joins it as a loivertozvn, 
so as to defend the place against hostile attacks on the north 
or town side. The ' Millo ' was at any rate some kind of fortifi- 
cation, probably a large tower or castle. The definite article be- 
fore Millo indicates that it was a well-known fortress, probably 
one that had been erected by Jebusites. With regard to the sit- 
uation of Millo, we ma}- infer from this passage and I Chronicles 
xi. 8, that the tower in question stood at one corner of the wall, 
either on the north-east or north-west, where the hill of Zion has 
the least elevation, and therefore needs the greatest strengthen- 
ing from without." — Keil and Delitzsch. 

f That the conquest of Jebus took place at once after the anoint- 



THE CAPTURE OF JEBUS. 2 I$ 

Hebrew dilated, the heart of every Hebrew beat quick at 
the power and glory of their king. Even from distant 
Tyre soon came salutations from King Hiram, and offers 
of workmen to build a royal house suited to the royal 
capital. 

It would have been quite in keeping with David's mind 
if after this unprecedented success, with his wives and chil- 
dren and the families of his brave warriors around him, his 
exultation had taken the form of the One Hundred and 
Forty-fourth psalm : 

A PSALM OF DAVID. 
Blessed be Jehovah, my rock, 
Who teacheth my hands to war 
And my fingers to fight ! 
My goodness ! and my fortress ! 
My high tower ! and my deliverer ! 
My shield ! and he in whom I trust ! 
Who subdueth the people under me ! 

Lord, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him ? 
Or the son of man, that thou makest account of him ? 
Man is like to vanity, 
His days are as a shadow that passeth way. 

Bow thy heavens, O Lord, and come down. 

Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. 

Cast forth lightnings and scatter them ! 

Shoot out thine arrows and destroy them. 

Send thine hand from above. 

Rid me and deliver me out of great waters' 

From the hands of aliens, 

Whose mouth speaketh vanity, 

And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. 

I will sing a new song unto thee, O God, 

Upon a ten-stringed psaltery will I sing praises unto thee 

Who gives victory to kings 

Who delivereth David, thy servant, from the hurtful sword. 

Rid me and deliver me from the hand of aliens 

Whose mouth speaketh vanity, 

And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood ! 



ment at Hebron " is apparent from the fact that according to verse 
5, David reigned in Jerusalem just as many years ashe was king 
over all Israel." — Keil and Delitzsch. 



214 7 ' HIR TIE TH s UNDA Y - 

That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth, 

Our daughters as corner-stones, 

Polished after the similitude of a palace. 

That our garners may be full, 

Affording all manner of store. 

That our sheep may bring forth thousands 

And ten thousands in our streets, 

That our oxen may be strong to labour. 

That there may be no breaking in nor going out. 

That there be no outcry in our streets. 

Happy is that people that is in such a care, 
Yea, happy is that people whose God is Jehovah. 

Did the name Jerusalem take the place of Jebus at this 
time, "and become henceforth the name of the sacred capi- 
tal? Jebus was the city of the Jebusites, and continued 
to be Jebus beyond all doubt from the conquest till the 
Jebusites were conquered. It was certainly Jebus in the 
time of the Judges, when the Levite refused to stop there 
over-night. It bears the name of Jerusalem from this time 
on. The name has been accounted for in various ways. 
The last part of the name, it is commonly argued, is the an- 
cient name of Salem, and not without beauty and power is 
it supposed that it was the city of Melchizedek, " King of 
Salem t *Mch is King of Peace." Some scholars conjecture 
that the name is the Hebrew words, Jerush-shalem, Inherit- 
ance of Peace ; others, that it is Jeru-shalem, Foundation 
of Peace. On the supposition that the sacrifice of Isaac 
was on the hill of Araunah, or that Araunah's threshing- 
floor was the Mount Moriah of Abraham, some have sup- 
posed that a part of the divine message to Abraham, " The 
Lord will provide " (fehovah-Jireh), was prefixed to salem 
or ska/em, and that Jireh-shalem, which became afterwards 
Jerusalem, means, " The Lord will provide Peace "; and it 
has even been supposed that, as the Lord Jehovah did 
provide a ram for Abraham's offering, so the full signifi- 
cance of the name now. so celebrated was designed to be, 
"Jehovah will provide peace by that Lamb of God that 



THE CAPTURE OF JEBUS. 2 I$ 

fakes away the sins of the world." The name is sometimes 
in the dual number in Hebrew. Jerusa/tfw/z, meaning the 
double Jerusalem, because it was on two hills or forks of 
rock. Still others suppose that the names Jebus and 
Salem were combined in one word, Jebusalem or Jerusa- 
lem, after this city became David's capital. Glorious are 
the associations of that powerful title ! There is no name 
of earthly city that so sways men in all ages and all lands, 
from the time when Asaph sang, 

" In Salem is his tabernacle, 
And his dwelling-place in Zion," 

to the descent from heaven of the New Jerusalem, pre- 
pared and adorned as a bride for her husband. 









t^irig-focsi Smttmg. 



DAVID'S GROWING FAME. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel v. 11-25 ', * Chronicles xiv., xvii. 1 ; 1 Kings v. 1 ; Psalms xxx. and ci. 

DAVID'S reputation and power were now at once and 
widely felt. In three directions there takes place 
a great advance, to which our attention is now called. 
The strongest enemy at home, the Philistines, is first 
put under. A warm friendship was formed with one of the 
strongest near neighbors — the kingdom of Tyre. An im- 
pression of admiration and of awe, such as widely prevails 
among kingdoms when a moderate State advances by one 
stride to the highest rank, rapidly grows in more distant 
nations like Egypt and Nineveh or Assyria. 

First comes the contest with the Philistines, in which 
the Philistine power was broken. From this time onward 
through the reign of Solomon, their power wanes, and at 
no time recovers supremacy over any considerable portion 
of the Hebrew nation. 

It had now been from fifteen to seventeen years since 
the boy-champion had met the giant-champion in the val- 
ley of Elah. The Philistines had learned to despise David, 
for had not this promising youth been hunted like a par- 
tridge for eight or ten long years by King Saul, unable to 
make headway against that stupid and blundering mon- 
arch ? Had he not fled to Gath and played the madman ? 
Had he not been a vassal to Achish, who gave him Ziklag ? 
(216) 






DA VIU S GRO WING FAME. 2 1 7 

Was not the double-minded rogue ready to go with them- 
selves against his own Hebrew king? And had he not 
been unable for seven long years to take the throne of the 
nation with only King Ish-bosheth and his general Abner 
to hold out against him ? But now that he had been made 
king of the whole land and captured Jebus, they thought 
it time to display their strength again. They would if 
possible unseat the treacherous young king before he forti- 
fied himself too strongly in Jebus. They therefore gather 
all their armies as they did before Saul's overthrow, and 
advanced perhaps in the hope of another such victory. 
Or if they were not so ambitious as this, they came up for 
the harvests for which the "plain" below Jerusalem was 
noted. 

The hostile army boldly advanced, and encamped deep 
and wide in the valley of the giants (Rephaim) — a culti- 
vated plain extending south-west from the very brow of 
the valley of Hinnom.* Gentle hills lie along the north- 
west side of it. Broad next the city, it slopes gradually, 
till at the north-western end it becomes a deepening and 
narrowing valley. Although the ground is stony and un- 
even, still it is a highly cultivated stretch of land. Exten- 
sive gardens of vegetables now grow in the valley, with 
olive-trees and vineyards stretching across the plain higher 
up. Women with loads of roses may be seen on their 
way to the city, where the roses are used for making rose- 
water, and from the fields of roses there cultivated, the 
name of the valley at the lower end, opening into the 
Giant's Valley, is " Valley of Roses." Wheat grew there 
in great abundance in ancient times, f and in David's day 
there were mulberry-trees. From the walls of the city the 
people could behold the Philistines encamped across the 
Hinnom ravine. David was ready to meet them ; but not 



* See map on page 208. f Isaiah xvii. 5. 



2 1 8 THIR T Y-FIRST S UNDA V. 

till he had sought the direction of God. Occasions are 
frequent now, as we shall see, in which he consulted the 
high-priest to know the issue of his action, and to know 
from the Theocratic King himself, what his own action 
should be. 

Having the assurance of victory, he led out his army. 
"When the battle was joined," says Josephus, "David 
came himself behind and fell upon the enemy on a sudden, 
and slew some of them, and put the rest to flight." So 
violent was the rout that it seemed as if a mighty dam had 
given way, and the overwhelming waters had swept every 
resisting obstacle before them. Such was the comparison 
in David's mind when he said, "Jehovah hath burst upon 
mine enemies before me as a burst of waters." Therefore, 
he named the place " The Place of the Burstings Forth." 
The idols thrown away or lost in the Philistines' haste were 
picked up, and by David's command burned, in accord- 
ance with law of Moses : — " Thus shall ye deal with them : 
ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, 
and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images 
with fire." 

Recovering themselves, and probably reinforced, the 
Philistines return. Josephus says the reason why they 
were able to rally was that " all Syria and Phoenicia, with 
many other nations, came to their assistance and had a 
share in this war." But as Josephus says nothing what- 
ever of Hiram, king of Tyre, whose city was of Phoenicia, 
we may either doubt his statement or consider the lower 
end of Phoenicia meant. In answer to his inquiry with 
respect to giving battle, Josephus says " the high-priest 
prophesied to him that he should keep his army in the 
groves called the Groves of Weeping, which were not far 
from the enemies' camp, and that he should not move nor 
begin to fight till the trees of the grove should be in mo- 
tion without the winds blowing : but as soon as these 



DA FID'S GRO WING FAME. 



2I9 



trees moved and the time foretold to him by God was 
come, he should without delay go out to gain what was an 
already prepared and evident victory." From the phrase, 
" Thou shalt not go up, but fetch a compass behind the?n" 
and from the fact that David pursued and smote the Phil- 
istines from Gibeon or Geba, towns north-west of Jerusa- 
lem, down to Gazor on the very border of the Philistine 
plain, we infer that David cut off their retreat on the 
south, and that the sound of the going in the top of the 
mulberry-trees, from the south, was like the noise of the 
host in the ears of Benhadab when he afterwards besieged 
Samaria. They fled, therefore, panic-smitten before the 
Lord's excitement of their imagination, rushing to the 
north-west, turning to the left in the region of Gibeon, and 
chased with continued slaughter down to the great road to 
Egypt. It was a mighty and an effectual victory, and broke 
permanently the aggressive power of that rich and ener- 
getic and heathen nation. 

The principal neighboring nations of the Hebrew king- 
dom in David's time were Ammon or Moab, the moun- 
tains of whose kingdom across the Salt Sea might always 
be seen from near Jerusalem, Edom in the south, Damas- 
cus of Syria, or " Syria of Damascus," in the north-west, 
and Tyre or " The Sidonians " in the north-east. There 
can be no question that Damascus and Tyre were the 
heads of kingdoms ancient in the days of David : Damas- 
cus commanding all the inland commerce between the vast 
east, from Nineveh and the Western Sea and the southern 
Canaan and Egypt, and exercising a controlling power 
over the petty sheikhs of surrounding Syria ; Tyre, an in- 
telligent, enterprising people from before Joshua, skilled in 
the metallic arts, in wood-felling and stone-cutting, and 
spreading far and wide its coast-creeping commerce on the 
great sea. 

We shall see how Moab or Ammon, Edom, and Damas- 



220 THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY. 

cus fell under David's assaults. With Tyre the Hebrews 
seem never to have had a war. A warm admiration 
sprang up in Hiram's mind for the young Hebrew king, 
and he became and remained "a lover of David." If 
Josephus is right with respect to the union of the Syrians 
with the Philistines against David, we must remember the 
Syria of those days was entirely distinct from the coast of 
the Sidonians. It was " Syria of Damascus" and " Syria 
of the two rivers," Euphrates and Tigris. No sooner, 
therefore, was David well established in Jebus, and had 
bearded the Philistine lion and given him a lasting wound, 
than Hiram sends him a courteous salutation, and pro- 
posed to erect for him a house worthy of the throne of Israel. 
So courteous and generous an offer must have touched 
the gracious and genial heart of David. The house was 
planned and erected. It was built of stone and of cedar. 
The trees were cut and perhaps hewn in the mountains 
above Tyre ; they were no doubt floated to Joppa, as was 
the timber for the temple. The carpenters and stone- 
cutters busy in the "city of David" among the interested 
and admiring Hebrews, were Tyrians. It was something 
elaborate for that time, we may be sure, worthy the name 
of a palace — not inferior to the growing fame of the king, 
who must by this time, have reached the twelfth year from 
his accession at Hebron. It must have had its numerous 
apartments for his numerous household and their servants. 
It was in the simple oriental style, with upper chambers 
leading to a flat roof,* with rooms for his body-guard or 
men-servants at the entrance to the court. f The adorn- 
ment was rather internal than external. And when it was 
completed there was a dedication, in which the pious king 
lifted up his soul in thanks to God for his many deliver- 
ances and his prosperity. Such a dedication of a house 

* xi. 2. f xi. 9, 13. 



DAVID'S GROWING FAME. 2 2l 

was no uncommon thing, as we may infer from the direction 
to the officers of the army before a battle, who were to say, 
"What man is there that hath built a house and hath 
not dedicated it : let him go and return to his house, lest 
he die in the battle and another dedicate it."* For such 
an appointed time it was, when a review of his life would 
be both natural and appropriate, that was composed 

A PSALM AND SONG AT THE DEDICATION OF THE 
HOUSE OF DAVID. 
I will extol thee, O Jehovah, for thou hast lifted me up, 
And hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. 

Jehovah, my God, 

1 cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me (or restored me) : 

Jehovah, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave ; 
Thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit. 

Sing unto Jehovah, O ye saints of his, 

And give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness ; 

For his anger is for a moment, 

But his favor is for life ; 

Weeping may lodge for the night, 

But singing cometh in the morning. 

And in my prosperitj', I said, I shall never be moved : 

Thou, O Jehovah, by thy favor hast made my mountain to stand strong. 

Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. 

1 cried unto thee, O Jehovah ! 

And unto Jehovah I made supplication : 

" What will my blood profit thee when I go down unto the pit ? 

Shall the dust praise thee ? shall it declare thy truth ? 

Hear, O Jehovah ! and have mercy upon me. 

O Jehovah, be thou my helper !" 

Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing. 
Thou hast put off my sackcloth and hast girded me with gladness 
In order that my glory may sing praise to thee and not be silent. 
O Jehovah, my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. 

— Psalm xxx. 

It may be the Tyrians were present at the dedication, 
and from it bore back to Tyre salutations to Hiram and 
generous gifts for themselves, and a knowledge of true piety 
and the one only God. For David had sagacity to per- 



* Deuteronomy xx. 5. 



222 THIR T Y-FIRST SUNDA Y. 

ceive that the exaltation was for Jehovah's people in the 
earth and not for his personal honor. So began the warm 
love between kingly David and kingly Hiram, which glowed 
for twenty-five years, and which under Solomon brought the 
wisdom of Tyre to build for Jehovah a house " exceeding 
magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries." 

Within this house David removed the wives and chil- 
dren who were his at Hebron. Here at last was Saul's 
daughter in glorious estate. Here he introduced his other 
wives, preparing additional houses as his royal establish- 
ment increased. Here were born many sons, eminent 
among whom was Shammuah or Shimea, so named, no 
doubt, for David's older brother Shammah, whose grow- 
ing son Jonathan, named perhaps for David's friend, slew 
afterward the six-fingered, six-toed giant of Gath, and pre- 
eminent among whom was Solomon the wise. 

At such a time as this also, was an occasion which 
David would improve to set forth the character of a true 
Father and true Ruler to his people, such as we find de- 
scribed in the One Hundred and First psalm : 

I will sing of mercy and judgment 

Unto thee, O Lord, will I sing. 

I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way, 

when wilt thou come unto me ! 

1 will walk within my house with an upright heart, 
I will set no wicked thing before my eyes, 

I hate the work of them that turn aside, 

It shall not cleave to me. 

A proud heart shall depart from me, 

I will not know a wicked person; 

Him who secretly slanders his neighbor, 

I will cut off. 

Him that hath a high look and a proud heart 

I will not suffer, 

Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the Lord, 

That they may dwell with me. 

He that walketh in an upright way shall serve me; 

He that practiceth deceit shall not dwell in my house; 

He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight, 

I will early destroy all the wicked out of the land, 

That I may cut off all evil doers from the city of Jehovah. 



DA VI D' S GRO WING FA ME. 2 2$ 

Beyond Lebanon, beyond the wilderness, beyond the 
river of Egypt, the fame of the mighty Hebrew king began 
to extend. It "went out into all lands, and the fear of 
him upon all nations." For, walking in the fear of the 
Lord, the king had arisen to whom was promised empire 
from the wilderness and Euphrates and Lebanon to the 
uttermost sea, and to whom was being fulfilled the prom- 
ise, " I will lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon 
the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall 
hear report of thee and tremble." * 



* Deuteronomy ii. 25 ; xi. 24, 25. 



fffyttig-fteamb Simimu, 



THE NEW TABERNACLE FOR THE ARK. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel vi. 1-19 ; 1 Chronicles xiii., xv., xvi. ; 2 Chronicles i. 3 ; 
Psalms xxiv., cv., xcvi., cvi. 

THE piety of David is seen in his exaltation of religious 
worship before the nation, just at this very time of 
his growing fame and certain prosperity. It is easy to say 
that the reformation of religion was a sagacious movement 
to consolidate his power ; for all kings have been com- 
pelled to recognize the religious instinct in their people, 
and to provide or recognize religious observances. But 
it is plain that David's whole heart was in the honor which 
he now rendered to God. He did not dismiss the matter 
to the priests or to a deputy. He taught the priests them- 
selves piety by the noble devotion of his personal example. 
He exhibited the most sincere personal reverence and 
fear of the only living God, and the most unaffected per- 
sonal joy in his' favor. His psalms on bringing the ark to 
Jerusalem, as well as for the tabernacle service afterwards, 
are the breath of the pious of all ages. 

We have already seen that the tabernacle worship was 
broken up in the times of King Saul. After the ark was 
returned by the Philistines to Beth-shemesh, it remained 
for twenty years in Kirjath-jearim. This twenty years 
must have ended about the time of David's birth. Whether 
the ark continued at Kirjath-jearim all the days of Saul, 
(224) 



THE NEW TABERNACLE FOR THE ARK. 



225 



or was carried from place lo place during those rough 
times, and brought back again, we do not know. At any 
rate, some twelve years after David's accession at Hebron 
— for we assume that he had now been in Jerusalem about 
five years — and when David was therefore forty-two years 
old, it was still at that place. 

What had now become of the tabernacle at Shiloh from 
which the ark was taken ? We cannot follow it year by 
year. But we know that when David fled from Saul's 
court, when he was about twenty or twenty-two years of 
age, the table of shew-bread, the ephod, the high-priest 
Ahimelech, and eighty-five priests wearing the linen ephod, 
were at Nob, about six miles north-west of Jebus. The 
tabernacle was, therefore, there then. We know, too, that 
now, when David brought up the ark from Kirjath-jearim, 
the tabernacle of Moses was at Gibeon, six and a half 
miles north of Jerusalem,* and that it continued there 
throughout David's life, till the temple was built by Solo- 
mon, f The ark was, therefore, separate from the taber- 
nacle^ and worship to God by all pious families and pious 
persons, had probably gone back largely to the patriarchal 
form of personal or family altars. David took, therefore, 
the first opportunity to honor the law given to Moses : 
" Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt-offer- 
ings in every place that thou seest, but in the place which 



* 1 Chronicles xvi. 39. f 1 Kings iii. 4 ; 2 Chronicles i. 3. 

% " One of the principal motives for allowing the existing 
separation of the ark from the tabernacle to continue, may have 
been that, during the time the two sanctuaries had been sepa- 
rated, two high-priests had arisen, one of whom officiated at the 
tabernacle at Gibeon, whilst the other, namely, Abiathar, who 
fled to David, had been the channel of all divine communications, 
at the time of his persecution by Saul, and also officiated as high- 
priest in his camp. He could depose neither." — Keil and 
Delitzsch. 



226 THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY. 

the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes ; there thou 
shalt offer thy burnt-offerings, and there thou shalt do all 
that I command thee." The time had come at last when 
that "place" should be established, and when the true 
ceremonial should be re-established. 

The first thing, therefore, which David did, was to build a 
new tabernacle. For some reason, he did not remove the 
old Mosaic tabernacle that was at Gibeon, only six miles 
and a half away, to Jerusalem. Perhaps it had fallen into 
decay. The materials of which it was built were very old. 
It must have been many times repaired during four hun- 
dred years. The boards and cuitains and other materials 
were, of course, retained as long as possible. With the 
neglect even of the ark by Saul, with the distraction in 
the minds of the people on account of the separation of 
the ark from the tabernacle, and with the long time that 
had elapsed since Eli's death, the old tabernacle was well 
worn out. If removed to Jerusalem, it would have had 
to be entirely reconstructed. Perhaps it continued to be 
reverenced for association's sake, as we shall see, till the 
temple was built. God, therefore, honored David's plan 
of building a new tabernacle in the city of David. 

It is evident that this new tabernacle was something 
more than a tent. For there was a place for the ark, 
and a place for the altar of burnt-offerings, and priests 
and Levites were sanctified, and a "due order" estab- 
lished, and singers and musicians and porters appointed. 
Kingly plans had been made for the king's house, and 
workmen from Tyre had drawn public attention to the 
building of the royal palace. Certainly we should infer 
that royal attention and skillful labor honored the new 
tabernacle as much in the public estimation as they did 
the palace. The new tabernacle was probably at no great 
distance from the "king's house." 

When all was ready, David gathered the first choice of 



THE NEW TABERNACLE FOR THE ARK. 



227 



the nation — thirty thousand picked men from the tribes — 
to bring in the ark of God. He consulted with the lead- 
ers in reference to the matter, asking them if it seemed to 
be " of the Lord our God." He sent abroad invitations 
to the priests and Levites in their cities, and to the peo- 
ple from Egypt to Hamath. All the people were pleased. 
A great multitude assembled. With harps, psalteries, tim- 
brels, cornets, cymbals, trumpets, and what they supposed 
to be full preparation, they went to Kirjath-jearim — or 
" Baalah of Judah," as it was sometimes called — nine or 
ten miles north-west from Jerusalem, on the boundary of 
the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.* The road was the 
road to Joppa, a barren and uninteresting path ; but the 
town itself — the town which modern scholars agree to 
have been Kirjath-jearim — was "prettily situated in a 
basin, on the north side of a spur jutting out from the 
western hill." The ark was not in the town itself, but on 
a hill near by.f When it came back from Philistine 
Ekron, Abinadab's son Eleazar had been sanctified as its 
keeper. Eleazar had probably died, for his younger brothers 
Uzzah and Ahio now had care of it. They had prepared — 
perhaps by David's direction — a new cart for the removal, 
in which the ark was now placed. Ahio went before, guid- 
ing the oxen, and leading the king and his rejoicing thou- 
sands. Music and songs filled the air as the procession 
moved towards Jerusalem, and as they all hailed the 
speedy reunion of ark and tabernacle in their mountain 
capital. But "at this point — perhaps slipping over the 
smooth rock — the oxen stumbled." Uzzah put forth his 
hand to steady the holy ark, and met with a sudden and 



* See Map on p. 16. 

f The word * Gibeah," in 2 Samuel vi. 3, means literally a hill, 
and is so rendered in our English version in 1 Samuel vii. 1. 
These two passages refer to the same place. 



22 8 THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY. 

awful death, from the anger of the Lord. Silence and 
awe and fear fall upon king and people. Whether the 
threshing-floor of Nahshon was nearer Kirjath jearim or 
Jerusalem, we cannot tell, although Josephus intimates 
that it was near Jerusalem. 

Four reasons may be given why this dreadful punish- 
ment was inflicted on Uzzah : First, that he put forth his 
hand in an ambitious, officious, rash way, when there 
really was no need of his doing so. Secondly, That 
not being the priest, he touched the ark and was slain 
for it, as thousands were slain years before at Beth-shemesh 
for looking into the ark. Thirdly, That the ark was being 
carried in a cart, just as the heathen Philistines had sent 
it home, and not on the shoulders of the priests, as the 
law directed, and that, therefore, it was subjected to acci- 
dents just such as this of stumbling oxen and an overturning 
cart.* David himself said, after he thought over the 
cause of it, " The Lord our God made a breach upon us, 
because we sought him not after the due order' 1 Fourthly, 
As now the time for reforming the ceremonial had come, 
God would signify to David himself and to all the nation 
the transcendent importance which he placed on every re- 
quirement designed to maintain his sacredness or holiness. 
He would make David himself afraid of disregarding the 
order of the ceremonial. Another subordinate reason may 
have been to direct the nation's attention to the ark, and 
to hold the attention profoundly for three months, as a 
preparation for a lasting veneration when it should be 
taken to Zion, 

David was afraid, He called the place "The Breaking- 
Forth on Uzzah." " How shall I bring this ark near to my 
house ?" he said. One man was not afraid to receive it 
— Obed-edom, whose house was not far away.f For his 



* The Septuagint says the oxen " overturned the cart." 

f " He is called the Githite or Gathite, from his birth-place 



THE NEW TABERNACLE FOR THE ARK. 



229 



confidence in the benefits for which the ark of God was 
designed, we may suppose, he and his family and all that 
he had were blessed for three months. Then the king 
saw that the Lord intended blessings and not judgments 
by his ark. The ancient glory, long separated from the 
nation, was returning. God was honoring the design of 
removal to the tabernacle. Forthwith, with gladness he 
called the people again. He said, " None must carry the 
ark of God but the Levites ; and they in the appointed 
manner." He assembled the priests and Levites, and 
selected a proper number from their families. He called 
the high-priests, Zadok and Abiathar, and six heads of the 
Levites, and bade them sanctify themselves and their 
brethren in accordance with the law. He directed the 
Levites to select from their number singers and musicians, 
under whose appointment Heman, Asaph, and Ethan 
come now into view. Porters and door-keepers for the 
ark were also appointed, of whom Obed-edom was one. 
The king himself aspired to the highest priestly service. 
He relished the spiritual meaning of the sacred order. He 
clothed himself with a robe of fine linen and an ephod of 
linen, and provided robes for the Levites that bore the ark 
and for the singers. So David and the elders of Israel 
and the captains over thousands went to the house of 
Obed-edom with joy. Everything was now conducted in 
order and with solemn reverence. The Levites took the ark 
upon their shouders, by the staves, " as Moses commanded." 
When they had advanced six paces and met with the di- 
vine approval, the priests offered seven bullocks and seven 
rams for the purpose of inaugurating or consecrating the 
procession. The trumpeters proceeded, and did blow with 
trumpets before the ark of God. A vast multitude fol- 
lowed. King David, before the majesty of the divine 

the Levitical city of Gath-rimmon in the tribe of Dan." — Keil and 

Dditzsch. 



230 



THIR T Y- SE COND S UN DA Y. 



resting-place, and in holy spiritual joy, leaped and danced 
with all his might. In solemn jubilation, amid the mighty 
chanting and the sounding instruments, the procession 
wound through the gates, up the hill of the citadel, to the 
tabernacle prepared on Zion, the swelling voices of the 
white-robed singers, sending upward that psalm which — 
by common consent of modern writers — the king had ex- 
quisitely fitted to this occasion. 

A PSALM OF DAVID. 
First Choir. 
The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; 
The world, and they that dwell therein. 
For he hath founded it above the seas, 
And established it above the floods. 
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord ? 
Or who shall stand in his holy place ? 

Second Choir, 
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart ; 

Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully, 
He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, 
And righteousness from the God of his salvation. 
This is the generation of them that seek him, 
That seek his face, O Jacob ! Selah. 

First Choir. 
Lift up your heads, O ye gates : 
And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors ; 
And the King of glory shall come in. 

Second Choir. 
Who is this King of glory ? 

First Choir. 
The Lord strong and mighty, 
The Lord mighty in battle ! 
Lift up your heads, O ye gates ! 
Even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, 
And the King of glory shall come in. 

Second Choir. 
Who is this King of glory ? 

First Choir. 
The Lord of Hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah. 

— Tholuck's A rrangement. 



THE NEW TABERNACLE FOR THE ARK. 23 1 

Great must have been the power of such a chant, which 
the king's poetic mind devised, and which, no doubt, the 
king's outstretched hand led, his voice at the head of the 
choirs, and his dilated form in step to the solemn rhythm 
of the music, as they delivered this Holy Casket contain- 
ing the law-tables, the golden pot, and Aaron's rod into 
the Most Holy Place of the new tabernacle.* There they 
placed the ark in its resting-place, and amid burnt-offer- 
ings of dedication and peace-offerings of thanks, new 
psalms of the royal singer were borne up on the voices 
of Asaph and his brethren : 

Give thanks unto the Lord ; call upon his name ; 
Make known his deeds among the people, etc. 

Psalm cv. 1-15. 
Sing unto the Lord, all the earth ; 
Show forth his salvation from day to day. 



Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name ; 

Bring an offering, and come before him ; 

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. 

Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice, 

And let men say among the nations, Jehovah reigneth. 

Let the sea roar and the fulness thereof: 

Let the fields rejoice, and all that is therein. 

Then shall all the trees of the wood sing out at the presence 

of Jehovah, 
Because he cometh to judge the earth. 

— Psalm xcvi. 



*The "everlasting doors" maybe the city gates, ancient as 
the times of Abraham, old as the everlasting hills, or interior 
gates of massive citadel walls ; or the spiritual gates of God's 
habitation, symbolized by the frail curtains of the tabernacle ; 
or city gates, citadel gates, tabernacle doors, and the everlasting 
spiritual doors of the divine residence associated together. 
"The hoary gray castle-gates, through which many a worldly 
king of the Jebusites had entered, are too low to receive the 
King of heaven ; they are, therefore, called upon to raise their 
heads. As yet, they know him not in his dignity. A mighty 
echo returns the question, 'Who is the King of Glory?' It is the 
Lord, strong and mighty, flow many victories have been won 
by his ark ! The gates must not deny admission to him. But 
the question re-echoes once more, as if to furnish the occasion 
for a louder and more confident declaration of glory." — Tholuck. 



232 



THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY. 



O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good ! 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 

And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation, 

And deliver us from the heathen, 

That we may give thanks to thy holy name, 

And glory in thy praise ! 

Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, for ever and ever. 

Psalm cvi. 

The people responded with loud aniens. They were 
in heart with the jubilant heart of their leader, the priestly 
king. 

But before they depart to their houses, the royal bounty 
is ready for their bodily wants. For man and woman are 
ready a cake of bread, a piece of flesh — from the sacrifice, 
no doubt — and a flagon of wine. So were God and the 
king exalted before the nation. 



®{nrfg-t!)irir Swnirag* 



MICHAL AND DAVID. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel vi. 20-23 i I Chronicles xv. 16-24, 2 9 ? xy i« 4~7i 37~43 ? xx i- 2 9 5 
1 Kings iii. 4 ; 2 Chronicles i. 3-6 ; Exodus xxix. 38-42; Numbers xxviii. 3-8 ; 
1 Chronicles vi. 31-48 ; Psalm cxxxvi. 

ONE person highly disapproved of the king's mode of 
showing his joy at the incoming ark • and that was 
Michal, his wife. The ark was made little of in her father's 
day; and she had biherited no love nor reverence, for its 
solemn rites. We are right, therefore, probably, in sup- 
posing that she had slight sympathy with the warm piety 
of Jesse's house. The re-establishment of the ancestral 
worship was all very well ; but why should the king 
be in such a heat over it? why go himself? why dance 
like a minstrel at a wedding ? So she thought as the pro- 
cession came into the city of David and filed past her 
latticed window. How much, too, of envy and jealousy 
in the harem may be revealed by this cynical complaint, 
we cannot say ; but when Michal, on her return to David's 
house, found Abigail and Ahinoam and other wives, she was 
not like other oriental wives, she was least of all like Saul's 
daughter, if she was free from the miserable, petty jealousy 
which is the curse of all polygamous households. Instead, 
therefore, of mounting to the height of the occasion, ani- 
mated by that lofty spirit which bears one away on a 
generous and self-forgetful enthusiasm for a great and 
signal event in honor of God, she was far down on the low 

- (233) 



2 34 THIR T Y- THIRD SUNDA Y. 

level of finical proprieties, and despised David in her heart. 
She thought nothing of the people's joy at the removal 
from Kirjath-jearim three months before, and of the bless- 
ings on Obed-edom's house. She forgot, or chose to 
forget, the exultant dance of Miriam and her women, 
when the horse and his rider were mightily overthrown in 
the Red Sea. She forgot, or chose to forget, the self-for- 
getful dance of Jephthah's daughter, when twenty cities 
testified to her father's triumph over Amnion. While the 
psalms and sacrifices were celebrated in the new tabernacle 
and the people were edified at the joyful spectacle, her 
temper was ruffled at home with a Saul-like pettishness at 
her lord's demeanor. And when David, full of the spirit 
of the great event, returned to bless his house, she met him 
with ridicule and satire : " Glorious indeed for the king ! 
the king of all Israel to-day ! to uncover himself before 
the very servants — the very maidens — as a foolish fellow 
uncovers himself in the dance ! " 

It mattered little to David that he had thrown off his 
outer robes and uncovered himself in public — as kings do 
not often do.* He was in a condition of mind altogether 
too elevated to be affected by her petty satire. 
" There is reason for forgetting self," he said sharply, 
" and honoring Him who put me in the place of your 
father, and made me ruler ! I will play before the Lord 
indeed, and debase myself, that He may be honored. If 
this be vile, I will be more vile. If this be base, I am 
willing to humiliate myself in my own esteem to exalt 
Jehovah. And as to the servants and maidens, they are 
wise enough to honor it and to honor me " — a fit vindica- 



* "The proud daughter of Saul was offended at the fact that the 
king had set himself down to the level of the people. She availed 
herself of the shortness of the priest's shoulder-dress to make a 
contemptuous remark concerning David's dancing, as an impro- 
priety that was unbecoming in a king." — Keil and Delitzsch. 



MICHAL AND DA VID. 235 

tion of the God of the covenant, and a fit answer to a 
most untimely ridicule. For her contempt and derision 
Michal received a divine punishment : she was condemned 
to be childless. It may have been a providential design 
to prevent the perpetuation of Saul's house in any form, 
and yet as a purely personal punishment, most severe to a 
Hebrew woman.* 

But David's zeal was not confined to the new tabernacle. 
He had not neglected the old Mosaic tabernacle at Gibeon. 
A sacred respect was maintained for the time-honored 
Tent, now vacant of its holiest treasure. That venerable 
tent still enclosed the brazen altar of burnt-offering made 
for Moses by " Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, 
of the tribe of Judah." The priests were, therefore, 
instructed by David to include that in their arrangements 
for orderly worship. As we find that tabernacle and its 
altar still at Gibeon at the time of the temple dedication 
under Solomon, and great offerings made there at that 
time, we infer that a regular sacrifice was there kept up, 
although all the great and holy festivals centered from this 
time in Jerusalem. 

Let us gather now from what hints we have, some 
idea of the service and ceremonial as King David re-estab- 
lished it. 

1. The Saci'ifices. The regular morning and evening 
sacrifice was revived, a lamb and meat-offering of flour 
and oil, a drink-offering of wine at morning, and a lamb 
and a meat-offering and a drink-offering at evening. These 
were offered in the holy place, and were the " continual 
burnt-offering which was ordained on Mount Sinai," to be 
" throughout your generations at the door of the taber- 

* She is three times called " daughter of Saul." " Michal is 
intentionally designated the daughter of Saul here, instead of the 
wife of David, because on this occasion she manifested her father's 
disposition rather than her husband's." — Keil and Delitzsch. 



236 THIR T Y- THIRD S UN DA Y. 

nacle." Where there was attention to the daily offerings, 
the Sabbath would also be respected with its two lambs 
and double-sized meat-offering and drink-offering. The 
monthly offerings at the new moon followed next in the 
Mosaic ritual, of two young bullocks and a ram and seven 
lambs and multiplied meat-offerings and drink-offerings, 
according to the dignity of the animal slain. The three 
great festivals — seven days each — the feast of the Passover 
in the month of April, the feast of Pentecost fifty days 
afterward, and the feast of Tabernacles after the harvest 
of the corn and the wine, these certainly were not 
neglected when all the tribes thronged their new and 
glorious city, now more richly glorious with the feet of 
God. 

2. The Priests. There were two high-priests, or two 
priests at the head of the priestly tribe, Zadok and Abia- 
thar. We have noticed that David appointed them to 
bring in the ark.* Abiathar was the great-great-grandson 
of Eli. He belonged to the Ithamar line of Aaron's family, 
and he had first come to David at the time when his 
priestly father Ahimelech was slain at Nob. It would be 
natural, therefore, that he should be mentioned first, and 
that we should read " Abiathar and Zadok," and not 
"Zadok and Abiathar," as we find the record. But 
Zadok was of the Eleazar line — the line of the older son of 
Aaron's house. Both these priests proved true to David 
through Absalom's rebellion, but Abiathar supported 
Adonijah for David's successor, while Zadok supported 
Solomon. Zadok' s name is, therefore, mentioned first. 
Now, however, at the first, to Zadok and his line of priests 
was assigned the tabernacle at Gibeon. Zadok very 
likely under Saul had charge of the tabernacle at Gibeon. 
Abiathar and his line, therefore, had charge of Jerusalem. 



* 1 Chronicles xv. 11. 



MICH A L AND DA VID. 237 

We shall find hereafter that Zadok and his line superseded 
the line of Abiathar. Of David's twenty-four courses, 
arranged now or afterwards, sixteen chief men were from 
the house of Eleazar and only eight from the house of 
Ithamar. We shall see that Abiathar, who did much to 
reclaim the fallen reputation of Eli's house, at last died 
under the curse pronounced on Eli's posterity. 

3. The Levites. Two classes of the Levites are here 
specially mentioned, the musicians and the porters. The 
full order and service of the Levites we will consider here- 
after. Worthily, Obed-edom, whom God had blessed, was 
placed at the head of the porters.* Another Obed-edom, 
a son of Jeduthun, with Hosah, were with them. There 
were thirty-eight in all. We shall hereafter find, as the 
tabernacle arrangements are amplified, that the station of 
Obed-edom and his company was at the south gate and 
Hosah at a west gate. As by the permanent location of 
the tabernacle a large part of the duties of the Levites 
were ended — " for David said the Lord God of Israel hath 
given rest unto his people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem 
forever ; and also unto the Levites, they shall no more 
carry the tabernacle, nor any vessels of it for the service 
thereof." f — their offices were then confined to the courts 
and offerings and protection of the holy sanctuary. The 
service of a doorkeeper naturally included the care of the 
interior courts, as now the doorkeeper or sexton of a 
church has the care of the interior building, in the lighting 
and warming and cleanly keeping of the house. We shall 
notice the " orders " and particular arrangements when we 
come to the more complete establishment under David. 

4. l^he Musicians. David's poetic and musical genius 
ra.s full of suggestions for the musical praise of Jehovah in 



* Compare 1 Chronicles xvi. 38 with xv. 18 and xxvi. 4, 5, 8. 
f 1 Chronicles xxiii. 25. 



238 THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY. 

his sanctuary. There must already have been expended 
no little instruction and skill when the Levites "appointed 
for song" could chant and accompany with instruments 
the psalm which their king composed for the reception of 
the ark. David himself invented instruments of music* 
And after the tabernacle and ark were established on Zion, 
he began that grand order of musical service which he en- 
riched from time to time with his psalms, until it was ready 
for Solomon's grander introduction into his temple. The 
leader of this musical service was a grandson of Samuel 
the Seer,f under whose pious nurture, at Naioth in Ra- 
man, David's genius itself was kindled with holy fire. 
Very likely the grandfather, when he found his sons cor- 
rupt, secured his little grandson and educated him in min- 
strelsy, theology, and piety at Naioth. This was Heman, 
"a singer" of the Kohathite order, the Levite family who 
had been the ark-and-al tar-carrier on the ancient jour- 
neys. Asaph was his associate, of the Gershouite order, 
the family who had been the tent-and-curtain-carriers of 
the tabernacle ; and Ethan or Jeduthun, who were no 
doubt the same person, was the third leader, of the Mera- 
rite order, the Levites who had been the board-and-pillar- 
carriers. By this orderly appointment of the Levites, at 
the suggestion of David, the foundation was laid for the 
growth of musical families and musical training which 
long endured, as well as for the harmony and con- 
solidation of the Levites themselves. These three leaders 
had themselves the cymbals for their instrument, no doubt 
to keep the time. Under them, at the first, were eight 
men with psalteries, a guitar-shaped instrument made by 
David of fir or cypress, and six with harps, and Cheneniah, 
the chief instructor in the voice and the chant. In har- 



* Amos vi. 5 ; 1 Chron. xxiii. 5 ; 2 Chron. xxix. 27. 
f Compare I Chronicles vi. 33 with 1 Samuel viii. 2. 



MICHAL AND DAVID. 239 

mony with these, seven priests, on grand occasions, sound- 
ed the trumpet in pulse-like notes of solemn bass. 

With this arrangement of the "musical instruments of 
God " and of trained voices, the singers were " to give 
thanks to the Lord, because his mercy endureth for ever." 
Here, therefore, or shortly following this time, we may 
place the One Hundred and Thirty-sixth psalm, with its 
refrain and chorus and its joyful recital of the history of 
God's favored people. 



O give thanks unto the Lord ', /or he is good, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 

O give thanks unto the God of gods, 

For his mercy endureth for eve 

O give thanks to the Lord of lords, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 

To him alone who doeth great wonders, 

For mercy his endureth for ever. 
To him that by wisdom made the heavens, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 
To him that stretcheth out the earth above the waters, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 
To him that made great lights, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 
The sun to rule by day, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 
The moon and stars to rule by night, 

For his mercy endureth for ever, 

To him that smote Egypt in their first-born, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 
And brought out Israel among them, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 
With a strong hand and with a stretched-out-arm, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 
To him who divided the Red Sea into parts, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 
And made Israel to pass through the midst of it, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 
But overthrew Pharaoh and his hosts in the Red Sea, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 

To him which led his people through the wilderness, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 

To him who smote great kings, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 



240 



THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY. 

And slew famous kings, 

For his mercy endureth for ever, 
Sihon, king of the Amonites, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 
And Og, king of Bashan, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 
And gave their land for a heritage, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 
Even an heritage unto Israel his servant, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 
Who remembered us in our loiv estate. 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 

And hath redeemed us from our enemies, 

For his mercy endureth for ever, 
Who givcth food to all flesh, 

For his mercy endureth for ever. 
O give thanks unto the God of heaven, 

For his mercy endureth for ever, 



<K§trb-foitrf[j Smtiraa. 



PSALMS FOR THE TABERNACLE. 



LESSON. 

Psalms xcviii., xcv., xcix., xxxvi., xv., lxv., Ixvii., v., cxxxviii., viii. 

WE now enter upon the palmy years of King David's 
reign, the high level of his renown and power at 
home and abroad. We have seen him at thirty years of 
age anointed at -Hebron ; at thirty-seven years of age, the 
conqueror of Jebus and king on Zion ; and in order to 
make up a probable chronological order of his life, we as- 
sume that the introduction of the ark into the new taber- 
nacle took place in the fifth year at Jerusalem. Let us 
suppose that the battles with the Philistines were during 
the first and second years in Jerusalem, and that the king's 
palace was being built by the Tyrians during the third 
year and finished in the beginning of the fourth year. 
Then we may suppose that the king, went to Kirjath-jearim 
for the ark near the end of the fourth year, that the three 
months at the house of Obed-edom carried the arrival of 
the ark over into the fifth year at Jerusalem, which was 
the twelfth year of David's reign and the forty-second year 
of his life. Between this time of David's full establishment 
as king and the great and notorious crimes which defiled 
and weakened his royal dignity, was a period of nine or ten 
years, reaching to the fifty-first or fifty-second year of his 
age. These nine or ten years we will find compacted full 
of events exalting and expanding the material and spiritual 
strength of the kingdom. 

(241) 



242 



THIRTY-FOURTH SUXDA Y. 



Just here, at the beginning of this period, we may be 
sure that other psalms of the tabernacle service were com- 
posed. The evidence of this is, that David had already 
been absorbed with preparations of tabernacle and ceremo- 
nial, priest and Levites, music and psalms, up to this time, 
and his thoughts are immediately after this time turned to 
building a permanent house for Jehovah. The death of 
Uzzah, the blessing of Obed-edom for three months, the 
ark, Zion, and the new tabernacle, were the talk of the 
tribes from Gilead to Carmel, and from Dan to Beersheba. 
Just in these high days of religious devotion, therefore, we 
may safely locate the composition of some of the more 
spiritual psalms. It is not so easy, however, to "tell which 
psalms were composed then. Not one of the titles locates 
a psalm at that time. We have, at least, two things to 
help us in making our selection : first, the resemblance of 
certain psalms to that psalm which, from the sixteenth 
chapter of first Chronicles, seventh verse, we know 7vas com- 
posed at the introduction of the ark into the tabernacle ; and, 
secondly, the internal sentiment and structure of the psalms 
themselves. With these helps, let us notice the beautiful 
adaptation of certain psalms to this period of David's life. 

We have already seen that the One Hundred and Fifth 
and the Ninety-sixth psalms were parts of the psalm on 
that great day of religious inauguration, "first delivered 
into the hand of Asaph and his brethren." The Ninety- 
eighth psalm is so like to these that it may well have 
been written soon after, or " adapted " from the Ninety- 
sixth to celebrate more pointedly the Victorious God who 
had established the Hebrew nation on their heights of 
power : 

O sing unto the Lord a new song, 

For he hath done marvellous things ; 

His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him the victory. 

The Lord hath made known his salvation ; 



243 



PSALMS FOR THE TABERNACLE. 

His righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the nations, 
He hath remembered his mercy and truth towards the house of Israel. 
And all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 

Shout unto the Lord, all the earth ! 

Break forth into joy, and exult and sing ! 

Sing to the Lord with the harp, 

With the harp and the voice of song ! 

With trumpets and the sound of cornet, 

Make a joyful noise before the Lord the King; 

Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; 

The world, and they that dwell therein. 

Let the rivers clap their hands, 

And the mountains be joyful together 

Before the Lord ! for he cometh to judge the earth. 

With righteousness will he judge the world, 

And the nations with equity. 

With the same sentiment and the same reference to 
history, the Ninety-fifth psalm may have been written. We 
are to think of Jerusalem on her heights, looking down 
upon the deep Jordan chasm, and off upon the Salt Sea 
and the Great Sea, both of which could be seen from the 
heights near the city. 

O come, let us sing unto the Lord. 

Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. 

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, 

And make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. 

For Jehovah is a great God ! 

And a great king above all gods ! 

In his hands are the deep places of the earth. 

The strength of the hills is his also ! 

The sea is his, and he made it. 

And his hand formed the dry land. 

O come, let us worship and bow down ! 

Let us kneel before Jehovah our maker ! 

For he is our God, 

And we the people of his pasture, 

And the sheep of his hand. 

O that to-day ye would hear his voice ! 
" Harden not your hearts," etc. 

No person knew better than David, that the worship of 
God is designed to quicken our hope and delight in an 
Admirable, Glorious, and Powerful Ruler, as well as to 



244 THIRTY-FOURTH SUNDAY. 

humiliate the pride of our sin. He could, therefore, 
represent from the history of the nation, Jehovah's love 
for the loving as well as his hardness toward the hard- 
hearted. 

Jehovah reigneth : let the nations tremble ! 

He sitteth between the cherubim : let the earth quake ! 

Great is Jehovah upon Zion ; 

He is exalted over all the nations ! 

Let men praise thy great and terrible name ! 

It is holy. 

Let them declare the glory of the King who loveth justice ! 

Thou hast established equity ; 

Thou dost execute justice in Jacob ! 

Response. 
Exalt ye Jehovah, our God, 
And bow yourself at his footstool ! 
He is holy. 

Moses, and Aaron, with his priests, 

And Samuel, who called upon his name, 

They called upon Jehovah, and he answered them. 

He spoke to them in the cloudy pillar, 

They kept his commandments 

And the ordinances which he gave them. 

Thou, O Jehovah, our God, didst answer them : 

Thou wast to them a forgiving God, 

Though thou didst punish their transgressions. 

Response. 
Exalt Jehovah, our God, 
And worship at his holy mountain, 
For Jehovah, cur God, is holy ! 

Psalm xcix. — Substance of Noyes's Translation. 

From reflection upon the rewards of those who, with 
him, have attempted to serve God and the folly of the 
wicked who despise God, arose the Thirty-sixth psalm, 
dedicated to the chief-musician as " A Psalm of David, the 
Servant of God," beginning : 

li The transgression of the wicked saith within roy heart." 

Or, as it has been rendered : 

u To speak of the guilt of the wicked is in my heart." 



PSALMS FOR THE TABERNACLE. 245 

It is appropriate here as the natural thoughts of a ruler 
watching to administer his government at a prosperous 
time, so as to repress wickedness and encourage righteous- 
ness. 

After the terrible death of Uzzah, and after the blessing 
on Obed-edom, and the successful removal of the ark to 
Zion, nothing could be more natural in thinking of the 
divine sanctuary and worship than for the king to ask who 
is fit to enter the courts of God's house; nor anything 
more natural than for him to express that thought in a 
psalm of instruction for the individual worshipper. In 
this temper of mind was, no doubt, composed the Fifteenth 
psalm, the first two questions of which we may imagine 
chanted by a male voice in a bass solo, and the answer 
returned in a chorus. 



Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle ? 
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill ? 

He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness, 

And speaketh the truth in his heart. 

He that backbiteth not with his tongue, 

Nor doeth evil to his neighbor, 

Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor, 

In whose eyes a vile person is contemned. 

Eut he honoreth them that fear the Lord, 

He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not. 

He that putteth not out his money to usury, 

Nor taketh reward against the innocent, 

He that doeth these things shall never be moved. 



And now, as a year rolls around, we should consider the 
regular feasts of all the tribes joyfully celebrated in Jeru- 
salem. The first joyful convocation of the tribes at the 
incoming ark would make the re-establishment of the three 
great festivals the outspring of popular patriotic and relig- 
ious enthusiasm. David's piety would secure their observ- 
ance, and his kingly wisdom would welcome them as a 
strong bond of the tribes in the one nation. We may, 



246 THIRTY-FOURTH SUNDAY. 

therefore, imagine the scene and apply to it the psalm 
which naturally associates itself with the service. 

After the sheaf of the first-fruits was offered on the sec- 
ond day of the Passover, which was in the spring, while 
the flocks, released from winter keeping, clothed the pas- 
tures, and hill and valley were covered with the grain, the 
Sixty-fifth psalm may have been sung ; or it may have been 
the song of praise for the year's blessings at the Feast of 
Tabernacles, the thanksgiving day of the nation. We can 
see the families of the holy city and of all the tribes en- 
camped in green booths on housetops, and in open 
spaces, and on hill and in valley outside, the multitude 
overflowing the city, while in the temple the thank-offering 
and lofty chant of thanks went on under the chief-musician. 

A PSALM AND SONG OF DAVID. 

Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion, 

And unto thee shall the vow be performed ! 

O thou that hearest prayer, 

Unto thee shall all flesh come ! 

Iniquities prevail against me. 

Our transgressions thou shalt purge them away ! 

Blessed is the man whom thou choosest 

And causest to approach unto thee 

That he may dwell in thy courts ! 

We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, 

Even of thy holy temple. 

By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, 

O God of our salvation ! 

Who art the confidence of all ends of the earth, 

And of them that are afar off upon the sea. 



Thou visitest the earth and waterest it ! 

Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water. 

Thou preparest them (the people of the earth) corn when thou hast so provided it. 

Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly. 

Thou settest the furrows thereof. 

Thou makest it soft with showers, 

Thou blessest the springing of it. 

Thou crownest the year with thy goodness, 

And thy paths drop fatness. 

They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness, 






PSALMS FOR THE TABERNACLE. 247 

And the little hills rejoice on every side. 
The pastures are clothed with flocks, 
The valleys also are covered over with corn, 
They shout for joy, they also sing. 

On such a grand festival, too, with a grand chorus ac- 
companiment of stringed instruments, the Sixty-seventh 
psalm may have been sung, which begins, it may be ob- 
served, with the blessing of Moses and Aaron on the 
people : (Numbers vi. 24.) 

A PSALM OR SONG : FOR THE CHIEF-MUSICIAN ON 
STRINGED INSTRUMENTS. 

God be merciful unto us and bless us, 

And cause his face to shine upon us. Selah. 

That thy way may be known op earth. 

Thy saving health among all nations. 

Let the people praise thee, O God, 

Let all the people praise thee ! 

O let the nations be glad and sing for joy : 

For thou shalt judge the people righteously, 

And govern the nations up earth. Selah. 

Let the people praise thee, O God ! 

Let all the people praise thee. 

Then shall the earth yield her increase, 

And God, even our own God, shall bless us ! 

God shall bless us ! 

And all the ends of the earth shall fear him. 

In the spirit in which these psalms magnify the nation, 
and yet lifts God high above the nation's head and king, 
we suppose two other psalms were composed, which are 
the personal praise of the king of Israel, himself the hum- 
ble subject of the King Eternal. These are the Fifth and 
One Hundred and Thirty-eighth psalms, the first of which 
seems to be a morning song of praise, and is dedicated 

TO THE LEADER OF THE MUSIC : UPON WIND INSTRUMENTS : 
A PSALM OF DAVID. 

Give ear to my words, O Lord ! 

Consider my meditation. 

Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God ! 



248 THIRTY-FOURTH SUNDAY. 

For unto thee will I pray. 

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord ! 

In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up. 

For thou art not a God that hast pleasure in wickedness, 

Neither shall evil dwell with thee. 



But as for me, I will come unto thy house in the multitude of thy mercy, 

And in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.* 

Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness, because of mine enemies {margin, 

those which observe me]. 
Make thy way straight before my face. 
For there is no faithfulness in their mouth ; 
Their inward part is very wickedness, 
Their throat is an open sepulchre, 
They flatter with their tongue. 
Destroy thou them, O God ! 
Let them fall by their own counsels : 
Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions ! 
But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice. 
Let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them ! 
Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee, 
For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous, 
With favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield. 

In the morning or evening or Sabbath service of the 
tabernacle, the king's voice itself may have borne upwards 
these psalms. How noble is he as we hear this majestic 
chant before the people and unto God ! 

I will praise thee with my whole heart. 
Before the gods will I sing praise unto thee. 



All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, 
When they hear the words of thy mouth ! 
Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord, 
For great is the glory of the Lord. 



The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. 
Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever. 
Forsake not the works of thine own hands. 

— Psalm cxxxviii. 



* The " temple" in David's psalms does not necessarily mean, even by an- 
ticipation, the temple of Solomon, for the same word is used of the tabernacle 
in the days of Eli. See 1 Samnel i. 9, iii. 3. 



PSALMS FOR THE TABERNACLE. 249 

One other psalm we may locate here, or soon after this 
time. David was now a father. His little children born 
at Hebron were growing about him. Amnon, the oldest, 
ten to twelve years of age ; Absalom the fair, the third 
child, from eight to nine ; Shimea and Shobab and Nathan, 
the first three of his nine children in Jerusalem, must have 
been born not far from this time. No father was more fond 
of his little children than this loving David. No pious father 
would be surer to think of the religious instruction of 
children than he. No good king would be more certain to 
teach the nation the importance of such instruction by ex- 
ample and precept. We may, therefore, suppose the 
Eighth psalm composed for some such occasion as the cir- 
cumcision of a royal child, or as the presentation after 
circumcision of his own or of other children in the taber- 
nacle. With thoughts of the dignity of a little child in God's 
kingdom, of the strength of his kingdom on earth by pious 
generations, in godly families, and of the dominion of man 
over creation, he brings the lamb, the pigeon and turtle- 
dove to this tabernacle ; and as the smoke of the burnt- 
offering ascends,* this psalm arises under the leadership of 
Asaph or Heman or his own kingly voice : 



TO THE LEADER OF THE MUSIC : UPON THE GITTITH : 

A PSALM OF DAVID. 
O Jehovah, our Lord ! 

How excellent is thy name in all the earth ! 
Thou hast set thy glory above the heavens ! 

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained praise ; 
Because of thine enemies, 
To silence the enemy and the avenger. 

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, 

The moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, 

What is man, that thou art mindful of him ? 

And the son of man, that thou carest for him ? 

Yet thou hast made him little lower than the angels ; 

Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor. 



* See Leviticus xii. 6-8 ; Luke ii. 23. 



250 THIRTY-FOURTH SUNDAY. 

Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands ; 

Thou hast put all things under his feet ; 

All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the forest, 

The birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, 

And whatever passeth through the paths of the deep. 

O Jehovah, our Lord, 

How excellent is thy name in all the earth ! 

And if composed for such an occasion, how beautifully 
does it heighten our Lord's quotation from it, in the tem- 
ple itself, against the unchildlike rulers.* 



* Matthew xxi. 16. 



Cljirfg-fiftlj j&mircj|. 



A HOLY HOUSE OF CEDAR. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel vii. ; i Chronicles xvii. 1-15 ; xxii. 7, 8 ; xxviii. 2, 3 ; 1 Kings v. 3 ; 
viii. 17, 18 ; Psalms cxxxii., xvi., ex., exxxi. 

DAVID is now at the height of prosperity. There is 
enough in his thriving kingdom to busy the thoughts 
of a mind so fertile as his, and enough to occupy the 
hands of his executive and administrative energy. But in 
the midst of civil affairs the heart of David takes strongest 
hold of God's law and God's honor. The psalms, as well 
as his great acts towards the tabernacle and a house of 
cedar, show this, whether the selection and location of 
psalms here made is precisely correct or not. It is no 
mere desire for personal aggrandizement which now sug- 
gests a new plan for the glory and power of the sanctuary. 
The nation, the king sees, is no longer a nation living in 
tents, but in walled houses and fenced' cities. The sur- 
rounding nations are subdued ; and there is no longer 
need to bear the ark before the army to victory. The 
king himself has a palace of cedar, built by foreign hands 
and adorned with luxury. Why, then, shall the ark of 
God remain any longer in a tent ? Surely it is painfully 
unbecoming for the royal palace to be more imposing than 
the Holy Palace of the Divine King. So runs the reason- 
ing of the king's piety. 

A new person here comes into notice whose appearance 

(251) 



252 THIRTY-FIFTH SUNDA Y. 

gives new character to the royal establishment and to the 
royal piety-. This is " Nathan the prophet." He appears 
at once as a full-grown man and as established in the pro- 
phetic office. But he is not, like Samuel, venerable in 
years and dignities and imposing influence. He is younger 
than David, for he remains some years as prophet in Solo- 
mon's kingdom after David is dead.* The three occasions 
in which he is conspicuous show that he was both intimate 
and influential with the king. These three occasions are 
when Nathan reproves the king for his crimes against 
Uriah, when the infant Solomon receives his name prob- 
ably at his circumcision,f and when Solomon is proclaimed 
king. The fact, too, that he wrote a life of David and a 
life of Solomon shows that he was, like Samuel — from 
whose school at Naioth of Ramah he, no doubt, came — a 
man of affairs and held in high consideration.! The tone 
and bearing of the consultation to which we now come, 
introduce him to us as already David's friend and adviser. 
We may imagine the two together in the court of the 
king's new palace. Beams of cedar of Lebanon project 
above them. The close-grained, light -colored boards 
worked with dark knots and veins,- ceil the polished walls, 
the court itself spacious and luxurious for that time. 
David, in the full prime of his years, sitting on a divan in 
the corner of the court, his feet folded under his loose and 
ample robes, his head folded in a brilliant turban, his dark 
Hebrew eye flashing with animation, his flowing beard and 
mustache perhaps already touched with gray, his hand 
stretched out in eager gesture. Nathan, younger, less 
solid and compact, but not less marked in feature and 



* 2 Chronicles ix. 29. f Luke i. 59-63 ; ii. 21. 

% " The biography of David by Nathan is, of all the losses 
which antiquity, sacred and profane, has sustained, the most 
deplorable." — Grove. 






A HOLY HOUSE OF CEDAR. 



253 



attitude, standing in plainer turban and robe, to con- 
sider his royal friend and master's communication. With 
a gravity suited to the subject, and an animated eagerness 
which flows from an active and sprightly mind, the king 
opens his plans. Or we see them as, mounted to the house- 
top, overlooking Zion and the city, they confer. " See this 
luxurious abode," says the king, " built by the Tyrians, its 
ceilings and spacious apartments, and broad roofs which 
look off upon the city, and even down upon the tabernacle 
of our God. The ark of God is within the tent cloth !" 
And he proceeds to unfold his plans of a splendid temple 
worthy of the King of all the earth. 

" Do all that is in thine heart," is his friend's answer. 
" God is surely with thee in this thing." This is the 
prophet's private opinion, derived from the manifest past 
co-operation of God with David and the excellence of the 
suggestion itself; for the prophet assumes that David will 
execute his plans only in consultation with the divine 
oracle. 

But at night a divine vision interposes. God speaks to 
Nathan, as to Samuel in the tabernacle. He honors the 
thought of David's heart, but forbids the execution of his 
plan. 

At early morning we see the young prophet with serene, 
calm face, and close- wrapped girdle, entering the private 
apartment of the king. He unfolds a divine communica- 
tion : 

1. 'Thou art forbidden to build the house. (Verses 4 
and 5 in both chapters.) 

2. To this day thy God has chosen a Tent, and aspired 
not to a House of cedar. Yet the proposal is honorable 
to thee. (2 Samuel vii. 5-7 ; 1 Chronicles xvii. 5 ; and 
compare 1 Kings viii. 18.) 

3. The reason why thou art forbidden, is that thou hast 
been a man of war and of blood. It is not suitable that 



254 



THIR T Y-FIF TH S UNDA Y. 



the great house of Jehovah should be associated in the 
eyes of all nations with the cruelties of war, lest the true 
God be esteemed blood-thirsty and cruel, (i Chronicles 
xxii. 8 ; xxviii. 2, 3.) 

4. God has exalted thee, that he might establish his 
people in an immovable place against all enemies. 
(2 Samuel vii. 8-1 1 ; and 1 Chronicles xvii. 7-10.) 

5. For thy pious and honorable purpose, Jehovah sol- 
emnly telleth thee that He will build thee, a house( 1 1 and 10). 

6. Thy son, and not thyself, shall build the house for me 
in a kingdom which I will confirm (12 and 11, 12). 

7. Thy son shall introduce a royal house ! and a royal 
kingdom shall be established forever — thy throne, forever / 
(13-16 and 13, 14). 

Marvellous is this sublime revelation, limiting the broad 
purposes of the historic nation to the King's family. 

The answer of David to this great personal revelation is 
the answer of an humble and thankful mind awake to 
recognize the infinite magnitude of the favor bestowed on 
him. How comprehensive, and profound, and full 
of harmony with God is his prayer of praise and 
thanks and submission, in which he — 

1. Magnifies the exalted, humble condescension of God 
towards himself and his house ; and the more marvellous 
wisdom which speaks of that house "for a good while to 
come " (18-20). 

2. Exalts the fidelity and devotion which fulfills the 
long-pledged word of God (21, 22). 

3. Magnifies the divine Founder of the nation, the 
nation which he has founded, and the nation's mission 
now confirmed again for the long future (23, 24). 

4. Accepts with blessings, and grateful supplication of 
blessings, the divine plans for himself and his family, as 
the plans of " God over Israel," and with prayers that his 
royal line may dwell " before God" always. 



A HOLY HOUSE OF CEDAR. 2 $$ 

If David had had thoughts of personal glory in his con- 
ception of a holy house, they were utterly lost in the 
broader conceptions of the Lord of Hosts. The palace 
and its glory were lost in the Perpetual Support of the 
Divine Honor in the Earth. In David's mind this could 
include nothing less than that Great Anointed One who 
was one day to come in wisdom, and righteousness, and 
glory. 

We do not, therefore, merely suppose, but we know 
that just here psalms were written which breathe the 
sentiments of this prayer. The One Hundred and Thirty- 
second psalm, is closely connected with this personal 
revelation made to David. 



Lord, remember David 
And all his affliction ! 

How he sware Unto Jehovah, 

And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob : 

" I will not go into my house 

Nor lie down on my bed, 

1 will not give sleep to my eyes, 
Nor slumber to my eyelids, 
Until I find a place for Jehovah. 

Behold we heard of it at Ephratah (at Bethlehem we heard of it). 

We found it in the fields of the wood (Kirjath-jearim, that is, Town of the 

Woods.) 
We will go into his tabernacles, 
We will worship at his footstool. 

Arise, O Jehovah, into thy rest, 

Thou and the ark of thy strength. 

Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness, 

And let thy saints shout for joy. 

For the sake of David thy servant, 

Turn not away the face of thine anointed. 

Jehovah hath sworn in truth unto David, 

He will not turn from it : 

" Of the fruit of thy body, will I set upon thy throne, 

\ithy children will keep my covenant 

And my testimony which I teach them ; 

Their children also throughout all ages 

Shall sit upon thy throne." 

For Jehovah hath chosen Zion, ■ 

He hath desired it for his habitation. 



256 THIRTY-FIFTH SUNDAY. 

" This is my rest for ever ! 

Here will I dwell, for I have desired it. 

I will abundantly bless her provision ; 

I will satisfy her poor with bread. 

I will also clothe her priests with salvation, 

And her saints shall shout aloud for joy. 

There will I make the horn of David to bud. 

I have ordained a lamp for my anointed. 

His enemies will I clothe with shame, 

But upon himself shall his crown glitter." 

" I will not go into my house " may refer to some vow 
which David took not to enter the house built by Hiram's 
workmen, until the ark was established in honor and rest. 

Here are connected the celebration of the removal of 
the Ark, the exaltation of Jehovah's permanent Rest, the 
recognition of his Anointed and his Spiritual Line and the 
prophecy of the Permanent Abode of Jehovah. 

That the Sixteenth psalm contains a lofty spiritual recog- 
nition of the Coming One, we have very definite assur- 
ance. For St. Peter at Jerusalem, at Pentecost declares 
in his argument, that David " being a prophet and knowing 
that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit 
of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up 
the Messiah to sit on his throne — seeing this before, spake 
of the resurrection of Christ," etc.* In an hour of highest 
inspiration, then borne on in vision to the future fulfilment 
of God's ancient promises, and elevated in thought at a 
just appreciation of his own important relation to the 
lineage, his thoughts take form in 

A GOLDEN PSALM OF DAVID. 

Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust, 

O my soul, thou hast said unto Jehovah 

Thou art my Lord ! 

My goodness extendeth not to thee, 

But to the holy that are in the earth, 

And to the excellent in whom is my delight. 



* Acts ii. 25, etc. 



257 



A HOLY HOUSE OF CEDAR. 

Their sorrows shall be multiplied 

Who hasten after other gods. 

Their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer, 

Nor will I take their names unto my lips. 

Jehovah is the portion of my inheritance, and of my cup. 

Thou dost maintain my lot ! 

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places, 

Yea, I have a goodly heritage, 

I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel, 

My reins (heart), also instructs me in the night seasons. 

I have set the Lord always before me, 

Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved ! 

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth, 

My flesh also shall rest in hope, 

For thou wilt not leave my soul in hades ; 

Nor wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption. 

Thou wilt show me the path of life ; 

In thy presence is fullness of joy ; 

At thy right hand are pleasures for evermore. 

It is in an exalted state like this, also, that he affirms his 
priestly office outside the Mosaic line, claims the office by 
commission extraordinary, like Melchizedek's, and asserts 
the spiritual lordship of the Great Anointed, over himself 
and all kings, in a psalm also cited by St. Peter at Pente- 
cost,* in that notable expression of prophetic insight, 
quoted by our Lord in the climax of his contest with the 
apostate rulers. f 

A PSALM OF DAVID. 

The Lord said to my Lord, 

Sit thou at my right hand, 

Until I make thy foes thy footstool. 

The Lord shall send the rod (sceptre) of thy strength (power) out of Zion. 

Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. 

Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, 

In the beauty of holiness, from the womb of the morning 

Thou hast the dew of thy youth. 

The Lord hath sworn and will not repent, 

" Thou art a priest for ever 

After the order of Melchizedek-" 

The Lord at thy right hand 

Shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. 



* Acts ii. 34, 35. f Matthew xxii. 43-45. 



258 THIRTY-FIFTH SUNDAY. 



He shall judge among the heathen, 
He shall fill the places with dead bodies 
He shall wound the heads over many en 
He shall drink of the brook in the way ; 
Therefore he shall lift up the head. 



As to those moods in which he felt the personal disap- 
pointment of not being permitted to build the temple — a 
disappointment which, at times^ David did, no doubt, feel 
keenly — this was the spirit of his ascent to the tabernacle : 

A SONG OF DEGREES OF DAVID. 

Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty ; 

Neither do I exercise myself in great matters, 

Or in things too high for me. 

Surely I have believed and quieted myself, 

As a child that is weaned of his mother : 

My soul is even as a weaned child. 

Let Israel hope in the Lord, 

From henceforth and for ever. 

— Psalm cxxxi. 






®ijkfn-st£i[j Smttmg. 



FULL CONQUEST. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel viii. 1-8 ; i Chronicles xviii. 1-8 ; Deuteronomy xi. 24, 25 ; Joshua i. 
1-4 ; 1 Samuel xiv. 47 ; Psalms xx., xix., xxxiii., Ixxvi. 

DELIGHTFUL as the 'work of ordering the divine 
worship on Zion was, there was a more severe work 
for David to do. The sweet exercise of devotion, the 
profound contemplation of God's great purposes, the glow 
and effusion in songs and praises to Jehovah, the arrange- 
ment of the national festivals, the peaceful convocation 
of the tribes — these were pleasing, useful, and of divine 
. appointment ; but there was another service which the 
nation had long been slack in completing. The whole 
territory predetermined by God for the Hebrew people 
was to be possessed. David was born and raised in the 
Lord's school to be the Lord's warrior. He was to un- 
derstand, as he studied the sacred rolls and sought their 
interpretation with Nathan, Abiathar, and Zadok, that it 
was not for the people's righteousness nor for his own 
excellence that conquest was given him. He was to fix 
it firmly in mind that, " for the wickedness of these na- 
tions, the Lord thy God doth drive them out." In the 
same roll in which he read the prediction and assurance 
of a permanent place of worship in the land, he read also 
that the land given to the Hebrews was " from the wilder- 
ness and this Lebanon, and from the river Euphrates, 

(259) 



2 6o TH1R T Y- SIXTH SUNDA Y. 

even to the uttermost sea." In the more ancient rolls, 
he pondered God's - promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Ja- 
cob : " Thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and 
thou shalt spread abroad to the west and the east, and 
to the north and to the south ; and in thee and in thy 
seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Still 
more, in explicit directions to Moses and to Joshua, he 
saw the boundaries of the land particularly defined.* 
Just in proportion, therefore, as the pious king examined 
the divine law on which to build anew the ceremonial and 
the worship, and by which to guide the divinely-appointed 
career of the nation, just as he perceived the spiritual 
grandeur of the nation's destiny, did he feel the powerful 
obligation to subdue the wicked tribes, and to develop the 
full growth of the kingdom which God had planned. He 
remembered, too, that his predecessor was dethroned, 
when in the height of power, for his leniency to these 
wicked tribes. God took the responsibility of their pun- 
ishment, and would take the responsibility of removing 
him from his throne if he failed to execute his just sen- 
tence on people ripe for execution. After, therefore, 
sufficient time had elapsed to consolidate the tribes in 
their religious institutions, and give the tabernacle service 
new impulse by psalms of praise — from two to four years, 
we will suppose — the king's undivided attention is given 
to the full possession of the land. The poet is dismissed ; 
the priestly office is laid aside ; the warrior is summoned ; 
but whether poet, priest, or warrior, in the fear and name 
of God ! 

Three nations occupied his plans, either at once in the 
beginning, or one after the other — the broken Philistines 
below, the Moabites across from Jerusalem, and those 
distant dominions towards Damascus to the Euphrates 



* Numbers xxxiv. 1-12 ; Joshua xiii. 1-14. 



FULL CONQUEST. 



26l 




2 62 THIRTY-SIXTH SUNDAY. 

which King Saul partly conquered, but weakly lost. And 
at length the fourth nation of the Eclomites became in- 
volved in the conquest. 

The army was, therefore, summoned from the tribes, 
first, probably, in smaller force. The Hebrews descended 
to the low country, upon that bitter and haughty nation 
which waited only an opportunity to torment and over- 
throw the Hebrew people. And this time — Jebus now 
frowning a Hebrew defiance — they utterly subdued the 
Philistines, or bowed their knees, as* the word might be 
rendered. They accomplished this by taking " Metheg- 
arnmah," or the Bridle of Amman, out of the hand of the 
Philistines. The parallel in the Chronicles reads, " Took 
Oath and her towns out of the hand of the Philistines." 
Ammah means mother, and the Bridle of Amman may 
mean the bridle of the mother-city.* And if this be the 
meaning, then " Gath and her towns " signify Gath, the 
mother-city, and her daughter towns. And the two rec- 
ords clearly support each other. As Gath was the Philis- 
tine city nearest the actual Hebrew possessions, as Gath 
had been the foremost leader in assault on the Israelites, 
as Gath was the city where David was compelled to hum- 
ble himself as if idiotic or mad, as David himself in ad- 
versity had been vassal to King Achish of Gath, when 
King Achish himself led the five lords of the Philistines 
against King Saul, to bring that mother city to her knees 
was to capture the strategic key to both the nations, or to 
wrest the bridle from the hand of the careering horseman. 
The reins of that metropolis came into David's hand.f 
Thus ended for all future time the Philistine hope of 



* See 2 Samuel xx. 19 : " Thou seekest to destroy a city, even 
a mother-city" (Hebrew Am, Greek and English, metropolis, 
mother-city) " in Israel." 

f " An Arabic idiom, in which giving up one's tridle to an- 
other is equivalent to submitting to him." 



FULL CONQUEST. 263 

ascendancy. Henceforth the kingdoms of David and of 
Solomon sweep down to the gates of Gaza. 

The army ordered by the king to the Moabite country 
was probably larger. That ancient enemy across the sea 
would. have been more terrible had not the awful chasm 
intervened. The ancient hostility had continued to the 
height of Saul's power, when Saul drove all before him 
on every side, from Philistia through Edom, Moab, Her- 
mon, around to Zobah in the north. David and Jesse 
and his wife were harbored in Mizpah of Moab ; but more 
out of hostility to Saul, it may be believed, than from 
friendly feeling to the grandson of Ruth, more to help a 
rebel than to serve a future king. 

David's war with the Moabites was a fierce and terrible 
one — little short of an exterminating war. Two-thirds of 
the people taken were put to death, the other third to 
service and to tribute. The captured fighting-men were 
made to lie on the ground. They were then measured 
with a line : — two lines to death, one line to life — a savage 
punishment, but thoroughly oriental and consonant with 
all ideas of warfare known in those days. Even this was 
mild compared with the English act in India of blowing 
Sepoys from the cannon's mouth. Spoils from cities, 
sanctuaries, and people were taken and kept for the 
cedar-house to Jehovah. Some special act of insult or per- 
fidy may have been the occasion of this terrible vengeance 
— like the insult of the Ammonites afterwards ; or, as has 
been conjectured, the King of Moab may have killed 
David's parents, or may have surrendered them to Saul 
during David's persecutions. Neither conjecture is neces- 
sary. David's zeal was divinely aroused to purge his na- 
tion from contamination, and to put those nations far off 
from the Hebrew confidence and approach. In the book 
of the law he read : " An Ammonite or Moabite shall 
not enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to the 



264 THIRTY-SIXTH SUNDAY. 

tenth generation, because they met thee not with bread 
and water in the way, and because they hired 'Balaam to 
curse thee. Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their pros- 
perity all thy days forever." And in the compulsive proph- 
ecy of Balaam, in which he predicted a star of Jacob and 
a sceptre out of Israel, who shall smite the corners (or 
chieftains, who sit in the divan-corners of Moab),* Da- 
vid undoubtedly recognized a rising royal power which he 
was himself to wield. Many a great man, oriental and 
occidental, who has had small reason compared with Da- 
vid, has considered himself commissioned of God to fulfil 
a purely fanciful prediction. The war with Moab was 
really a war of God, punitive and retributive. Jehovah 
alone took the responsibility. He who condemned Saul 
for sparing Agog, approved David for exterminating the 
Moabites. It was the only style of punishment against a 
thoroughly base and an incorrigible people, which at all 
comported with the level to which human civilization had 
come. 

It is quite likely that in this campaign Benaiah — pro- 
moted, perhaps, for the achievement, to be the captain of 
David's body-guard — distinguished himself by slaying two 
lion-like warriors of the enemy, an acceptance of chal- 
lenge, and a triumph likely to turn the scale of victory.-)- 

The next campaign to the Euphrates must have re- 
quired still more formal preparation. Some months may 
have elapsed, or David may have quickly massed his 
forces, and followed up the spreading fear and fame of the 
Moabite victory. Hadadezer seems to have massed an 
army at the Euphrates to attack the Hebrews ; for the 
words " to recover his border," mean strictly " to return 
his hand ;" that is, to stretch it out again to recover his 
power. To David it was as truly a religious campaign 
as the first conquest of the Canaanites. When, then, the 

* Numbers xxiv. 17. f 1 Chronicles xi. 22. 



FULL CONQUEST. 2 6$ 

army is marshalled at Jerusalem for its northward march, 
the king and captains and warriors are animated by sacri- 
fices and lofty hymns of praise and supplication. They 
were going against a nation of chariots and horses, not 
for external conquest, but to recover the land given by 
God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were to fight 
under a king who observed the condition of his office, not 
to multiply horses. As they pass the Jordan by* the well- 
known fords, or by the Sea of Chinerath, and cross the 
stretching plains towards Damascus and beyond., we may 
imagine the march resounding with the Hebrew chant 
which David before their start set in order at the taber- 
nacle for their battle-hymn : 

TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN: A PSALM OF DAVID. 
The Levite singers. 
The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble ; 
The name of the God of Jacob defend thee ; 
Send thee help from the sanctuary, 
And strengthen thee out of Zion ; 
Remember all thy offerings, 
And accept thy burnt sacrifice. Selah. 
Grant thee according to thine own heart, 
And fulfil all thy counsel. 
"We will rejoice in thy salvation, 

And in the name of our God we will set up our banners. 
The Lord fulfil all thy petitions. 

David sings. 
Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed. 
He will hear him from his holy heaven, 
With the saving strength of his right hand. 
Some trust in chariots and some in horses : 
But we will remember the name cf the Lord our God. . 
They are brought down and fallen, 
But we are risen and stand upright. 

The Levites sing. 
Save, Lord, the king. 
He [the Lord] wrll hear us when we call. 

— TholucJcs arrangement of the Twentieth Psalm. 

Two battles were fought in the general region of Da- 



2 66 THIR T Y-SIX Til S UNDA i '. 

mascus : the first with the forces of King Hadadezer, who 
marshalled a great array of warriors and of chariots from 
his country of Zobah ; the second with the allied forces 
of Zobah and Damascus. The number of prisoners taken 
in each battle by David — in the first battle, 1.000 chariots, 
700 horses, 20,000 infantry ; in the second battle, 22,000 
footmen — show that the armies on both sides were large, 
and the .sweep and shock of oriental battle on those high 
plains tremendous. 

Where, now, was Zobah ? For we cannot mistake 
Syria of Damascus, which must have been the thirty-mile 
fertile circle of which Damascus was the centre and head. 
Zobah was probably that region of Aram or Syria which 
lies between the kingdom of Damascus and the Euphrates 
■ — not eastward into dry desert, but north-eastward from 
Damascus, on the skirts of the mountain -ranges. A 
straight line from Jerusalem through Damascus strikes 
the Euphrates near its most westward bend and about 
east of Antioch. Projected across the Euphrates, it 
strikes into Padan-Aram in Mesopotamia. Zobah, it is 
supposed, lay alongside this line between Damascus and 
the Euphrates. David's army on the march were on the 
path of Abraham's servant and his ten camels from Beer- 
sheba to the city of Nahor. The high crests of Lebanon 
looked down from the west ; the great Arabian desert 
stretched away to the south ; the Euphrates brought down 
its volume of waters /rom the north and ebbed away to 
the east. The shields of gold, " by which we are proba- 
bly to understand iron or wooden frames overlaid with 
plates of the precious metal," and the abundance of fine 
brass which David took, show the wealth of the country. 
Possibly Zobah stretched over Lebanon to the sea, for the 
city Berothai which David captured has by some geog- 
raphers been thought to be the modern Beirut, one of the 
seaports of Damascus. And the other city, Betah, or 



FULL CONQUEST. 2 6j 

Tibhath, may have been the modern Taibeh, half-way 
from Damascus to " the river." In King Saul's time, 
there was more than one king in Zobah, very likely a 
number of petty, independent chieftains, for " he vexed 
the kings of Zobah." But now, in David's day, these 
chieftains were united under their one sheikh, Hada- 
dezer*. who ruled from Euphrates to Syria of Damascus, 
had friendly relations with Damascus, and had had wars 
with the neighboring King of Hamath on the Orontes, 
towards Antioch. Wherever the battle was, however 
many kings there were under Hadadezer, David had the 
victory, and in it "lifted up the name of his God." 
Faithful to his coronation vows, he houghed (hamstrung) 
the horses, reserving not enough for ambition or conquest. 
The hundred preserved were certainly within the condi- 
tion, " He shall not multiply horses," and we do not hear 
of horsemen under David. 

The Syrians of Damascus rallied to Hadadezer, and 
the reinforced army met the Hebrew army again. But 
the result was another great victory for David — twenty- 
two thousand Syrians were slain ; the Syrian cities were 
garrisoned by Hebrew soldiers ; Damascus itself, of course, 
was occupied — here first mentioned since Abraham's day ; 
and all Syria was subject to David. The gold and the 
large bulk of brass were sent to Jerusalem for the future 
holy house, and were afterwards used by Solomon. 

On the homeward march, moving silently by night be- 
neath the deep illimitable heavens, over those broad east- 
ern plains of sand or more verdant table-lands, or awake 
on his pillow, his mind clear and free as the hemisphere 
above him, his courageous spirit submissive to the perfec- 
tion of God's majestic rule in nature and in grace, let us 
place the origin of the sublime Nineteenth psalm, perfected, 
perhaps, on his house-top in Jerusalem : 
* 2 Samuel x. 19. 



268 THIRTY-SIXTH SUNDAY. 

The heavens declare the glory of God, 

And the firmament sheweth his handy-work. 

Day uttereth speech unto day, 

And night showeth knowledge unto night. 

No speech ! no language ! 

Their voice is not heard ! 

Their rule is gone out through the earth, 

And their words to the end of the world. 

In them hath he set a tent for the Sun 

Which is like a bridegroom coming from his chamber, 

And rejoiceth like a strong man, to run a race. 

His going forth is from the end of the heaven, 

And his circuit unto the end of it. 

And there is nothing hid from his heat. 

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. 

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. 

The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart, etc. 



SCjjirfg-sdHnijr Swnimg. 



THE CONQUEST COMPLETE. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel viii. 9-14 ; 1 Chronicles xviii. 9-13 ; 1 Kings xi. 15, 16 ; Psalms lx. 
cviii. xxi. ix. ii. 

THESE two great victories made a profound impres- 
sion on all that northern country. The prowess of 
the great warrior of the south went on the wind to all the 
sovereign rulers. Toi, of Hamath, whose city and 
country controlled the Orontes valley northward down to 
Antioch, and the southward valley between the two Leb- 
anon ranges, to which "entering in of Hamath" the 
Hebrew kingdom was to extend, thought it politic rather 
to court David's friendship than to offer resistance. Pos- 
sibly communications with his neighboring king of Tyre 
may have given him esteem for David. He sent his son, 
therefore, to salute King David, with gold and silver and 
brazen vessels for gifts, which David dedicated to the fu- 
ture holy house. 

God did not now permit David's ambitious pride to cor- 
rupt him when his dominion thus swept from Hamath and 
Euphrates to Mizpeh of Moab and Gaza, from the great 
eastern desert to the great sea westward. For he wounded 
any rising ambition which he might have felt by another 
short campaign, which humbled him, while it confirmed 
the whole broad territory under him. The record in 

(269) 



270 THIRTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY. 

Samuel says that after David returned from Syria (Aram) 
he " got him a name in the Valley of Salt," where eight- 
een thousand men were slain. The record in Chronicles 
assigns the command of this expedition to Abishai. The 
title of the Sixtieth psalm and the allusion in Kings, 
which evidently refer to the same campaign, assign the 
command to Joab. Such a supposition as the following 
will harmonize the different records. While the strength 
of the Hebrew army is with David under Joab, in the con- 
quest of Syria of Zobah (Aram-zobah), the Syrians assisted 
very likely by help across the river,* couriers come with 
the news that the Edomites in force threaten the south. 
The few troops left in Judah and Ephraim cannot stand be- 
fore the array, and have probably been already driven north- 
ward, if not defeated. " Two short days more would suffice 
to bring the Edomites to Hebron, and seven hours from 
Hebron to Jerusalem." The southern tribes are trembling. 
With all haste, David despatches Joab and Abishai with 
troops to strengthen and command the reserve at home, and 
advance couriers fly to announce help at hand. From the 
psalm, if we rightly locate it here, it is evident that the Edom- 
ites had pressed back the Hebrews, and perhaps defeated 
them in a skirmish or pitched fight. But the news from the 
north now supports the Israelites, and they hold the Edom- 
ites at bay till on Joab's approach, they retreat from the 
mountains about Hebron down the ravines to the remark- 
able Valley of Salt, at the southern end of the Salt Sea, on 
the borders of their own country. Thither Joab pushes on 
to battle, Abishai in advance, who perhaps has already been 
in command of the southern army, so that Abishai has the 
chief place in the battle, which is under the general com- 
mand of Joab ; and there in tumultuous and irresistible 
assault, and with a slaughter of from twelve thousand to 



* From Syria across the Euphrates, that is, Syria of the two 
rivers — Hebrew, Aram-nahamim ; Greek, Mesopotamia. 



THE CONQUEST COMPLETE. 2 Jl 

eighteen thousand, f they utterly shatter the Edomite power. 
Meanwhile David is full of solicitude. He has Berothai, 
Tibhath, Damascus, and perhaps other towns to secure 
with garrisons, lest new Syrian troops sweep down through 
Manasseh and Gilead, on Jacob's path from Padan-aram to 
Succoth and Shechem. 

The army of the kingdom seems scattered and broken 
and subject to great perils, a part in the north, part in the 
south, and part on the way between ; his home-defenders 
deserted. Ephraim and Judah are the nation's bulwark ; 
but Moab, Edom, and Philistia taunt and exult over the 
absent and foolhardy monarch. In this state of mind 
David pours out his song of complaint, solicitude, and 
confidence to God. 



TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN, TO THE TUNE, "THE LILY OF THE 
TESTIMONY," A GOLDEN PSALM OF DAVID, TO BE LEARNT 
BY HEART. 

When he was at strife with Aram-naharaim and Ararn-zobah, when Joab re- 
turned and smote of Edom in the Valley of Salt twelve thousand. 

God, thou hast cast us off; thou hast scattered us ; 
Thou hast been displeased ; oh ! turn thyself to us again ! 
Thou hast made the land tremble ; thou hast broken it. 
Oh ! heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh. 

Thou hast made thy people to see hard things. 
Thou hast made us drink the wine of reeling. 
Thou hast given a banner to those that fear thee, 
To be lifted up before thy truth ! Selah ! 
That thy beloved may be delivered! 
Save with thy right hand, and hear me ! 

God hath spoken in his holiness. 

1 will triumph ; I will divide Shechem, 
And measure out the valley of Succoth. 
Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine, 

And Ephraim my helmet, Judah my sceptre, 



f Reckoned in the title of the Sixtieth psalm at 12,000, but 
by the authors of the historical books at 18,000, and in either 
case probably intended only as round numbers. Nothing is 
more common than a difference of reckoning in respect to the 
dead on the field of battle. 



2^2 THIR T V- SE VEN TH S UN DA Y. 

Moab my wash-pot (for the feet), to Edom (as a slave) I will throw my shoe. 
Phihstia, triumph over me ! (ironical.) 

Who will bring me to the strong city (Sela or Petra ?) 

Who will lead me into Edom ? 

Wilt not thou, O God ! who didst cast us off, 

And didst not go forth with our armies ? 

Give us help from trouble. 

For vain is the help of man. 

Through God we will do valiantly, 

For he will tread down our enemies. 

— Psalms Ix. and cviii. 

Animated and active, the Syrian garrisons secured, 
David comes on with the rest of the forces ; with the 
genius of a military master, he pushes past Jerusalem and 
Hebron, perhaps by way of Jericho and Engedi, to follow 
up Joab's victory, and penetrate through the very depth of 
the land, securing every stronghold of Edom. The perse- 
cutions of Saul have made him familiar with those gorges 
and rocks and their people. But gorges and rocks make 
the campaign obstinate. For six months did the war con- 
tinue under David or Joab as personal commanders, until 
every man was slain or driven out of the Edomite country. 
Hodad, the Edomite king's son, a little child, fled to 
Egypt, whence as a full-grown man he came back to annoy 
King Solomon. David's success was complete. " Through- 
out all Edom he put garrisons, and all they of Edom became 
subject to him." He must, therefore, have occupied the 
principal capital towns of the Edomite country. The fertile 
and strong part of Edom lay straight south of Moab to the 
Red Sea, while its waste pasture and wilderness stretched 
westward on the south of Simeon j and the capital towns 
at that time were probably Bozrah and Sela (Hebrew, Sela; 
Greek, Petra ; English, The Rock) and Maon, all of 
which were directly south of Mizpeh of Moab on the same 
high, fertile, broken, rocky plateau, along the gorge between 
the Salt Sea, and the Red Sea, and Elath and Ezion-geber at 
the head of the Red Sea. These towns were no doubt held 



THE CONQUEST COMPLETE. 273 

firmly through David's life, for Solomon equipped his navy 
at Ezion-geber. And thus was fulfilled another portion of 
that marvellous prophecy spoken from the tops of the 
rocks of Moab, when that gifted seer who had come from 
Syria* looked off on the Hebrew tents on the east, their 
future land on the west, and the Edomite heights on the 
south : 

And Edom shall be a possession, 

Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies 

And Israel shall do valiantly. 

Out of Jacob shall come he 

That shall have dominion. 

And shall destroy him that remaiueth of the city. 

—Numbers xxiv. 18, 19. 

This grand sweep of victories, from Philistia to Moab, 
from Zobah to Edom and the Red Sea, was the lofty con- 
firmation of God's promise and of David's power. Well 
might the victorious son of Jesse, as he turned his retinue 
homeward, as he thought of these marvellous conquests as 
he rode past Ziph and Carmel, Hebron and Bethlehem, re- 
peat to himself those other words of Balaam : 

According to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, 
What hath God wrought ? 

— Numbers xxiii. 23. 

The nations were compelled to bow before Jehovah's 
nation, and to acknowledge the powders of Jehovah in His 
king. The king's fame, as it went abroad, w r as the fame 
of his God. The stories of his youthful exploits and his 
manly achievements were repeated by his own soldiers, as 
deeds achieved in the name of Jehovah, in garrison-camps, 
and in tents and towns of his enemies, from the Red Sea 
and the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. Great must 
have been the rejoicing as the victorious king came to 
Jerusalem, as the fact of the preservation of the Sixtieth 
psalm shows. He was now in the full beauty of his physi- 



* Aram, Numbers xxiii. 7 ; Mesopotamia, Deut. xxiii. 4. 



274 



THIR T Y- SE VEN TH S UN DA Y. 



cal manhood — a beauty and power enhanced so much by 
the brilliant costume of the Orient, and his power filled his 
people with admiring awe. God's mode of discipline has 
prevented in him the petty conceit of vanity, and de^ 
veloped a noble dependence on his divine Lord. With a 
piety mature and stalwart as his power, we may behold 
him taking his way soon, in a mingled concourse of war- 
riors and people, to the holy hill of Zion, the tabernacle, 
where, while the thank-offerings smoke on the altars, the 
choir and the king lift up new songs of praise like these : 

TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN : A PSALM OF DAVID. 
The King sings. 
The king shall joy in thy strength, O Jehovah ! 
And in thy salvation, how greatly shall he rejoice ! 
Thou hast given him his heart's desire. 
And hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. 
For thou overwhelmest him with the blessings of goodness ! 
Thou settest a crown of pure gold upon his head. 
He asked life of thee, and thou gavest to him 
Length of days, for ever and ever.* 
His glory is great in thy salvation. 
Honor and majesty hast thou laid upon him. 
For thou hast made him most blessed for ever. 
Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. 
For the king trusteth in Jehovah. 
And through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved. 

The Levites sing. 
Thy hands shall find out all thine enemies. 
Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. 
Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thy anger. 
Jehovah shall swallow them up in his wrath. 
And the fire shall devour them, 
Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, 
And their seed from among the children of men. 
For they intended evil against thee. 
They imagined a mischievous device 
Which they were not able to perform. 
Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back. 
When thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the 

face of them. 
Be thou exalted, Jehovah, in thine own strength ! 
We will sing and praise thy power. 
— Tholuck^s Twenty-first Psalm. 



* A reference to the prediction of his kingdom and his house forever. 



THE CONQUEST COMPLETE. 2 y$ 

TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN, TO THE TUNE, "DEATH TO THE 
SON": A PSALM OF DAVID. 

I will praise thee, O Jehovah, with my whole heart. 

I will show forth all thy marvellous works. 

I will be glad and rejoice in thee. 

I will sing praise to thy name, O thou Most High ! 

Because mine enemies are turned back, 

And did fall and perish at thy presence. 

For thou hast maintained my right and my cause. 

Thou safest in the throne, judging right. 

Thou hast rebuked the heathen. 

Thou hast put out their name for ever and ever. 

The destructions of the enemy are come to a perpetual end. 

And thou hast destroyed their cities ; 

Their memorial is perished with them. 
But Jehovah shall endure for ever. 
He hath prepa ed his throne for judgment ; 
And he shall judge the world in righteousness. 
He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. 
Jehovah also will be a high-place for the oppressed, 
A high-place in times of trouble. 

And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee. 
For thou, Jehovah, hath not 'forsaken them that seek thee. 

Sing praises to Jehovah, to Jehovah who dwelleth in Zion. 

Declare among the people his doings. 

When he maketh enquiry for blood, he remembereth them. 

He forgetteth not the cry of the humble. 
Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah ! 
Consider my trouble from those that hate me, 
Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death, 

That I may show forth thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion : 
I will rejoice in thy salvation. 

The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made, 

In the net which they hid is their own foot taken. 

Jehovah is known by the judgment which he executeth. 

The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Meditation. Selah. 

The wicked shall be turned into hell, 

And all the nations that forget God ! 

For the needy shall not always be forgotten. 

The expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. 

Arise, O Jehovah ! let not man prevail ; 

Let the heathen be judged in thy sight ; 

Put them in fear, O Jehovah ! 

That the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah. 

— Psalm ix. 

As he retires once more to the tranquil contemplations 
of the holy city, and the power of Jehovah's great personal 



2 j6 THIR T Y-SE VEN TH S UNDA Y. 

promise breaks again on him in its fulness of meaning, he 
is again caught up into high and inspired utterance. At 
some such time of triumph over heathen foes, and of the 
prospective completion of the victory of God's kingdom 
over all enemies, and with some faint intimation of Him 
of whom he was speaking, and whom he himself repre- 
sented, was the Second psalm — that grand Messianic hymn 
— composed.* 

Why do the heathen rage 

And the people imagine a vain thing ? 

The kings of the earth set themselves, 

And the rulers take counsel together 

Against the Lord, and against his Anointed, saying 

Let us break their bonds asunder, 
And cast away their cords from us. 

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh ! 
The Lord shall have them in derision. 
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, 
And vex them in his sore disple: 



Yet have I set (or anointed) my king 
Upon my holy hill of Zion. 



* See Acts iv. 25, where David is called the author. See also 
Acts xiii. 33 ; Hebrews i. 5, and v. 5. Professor Stowe consid- 
ers this psalm an inspired vision of the Messiah, entirely inde- 
pendent of David's reign — " in form and spirit strictly dramatic." 
" In prophetic ecstasy, he beholds the events actually occurring, 
he sees the multitudes assembling, he hears what they say, he 
sees God quietly seated on his throne, etc., and he writes down 
the whole scene." " When these dramatic psalms were sung in 
the temple-worship, the different persons were easily represented 
by different parts of the choir responding to each other." In 
the Second psalm, the whole choir might chant the first stanza 
as the words of the Psalmist, a portion of the choir chant the 
next couplet as the words of " the Rebels," the whole choir the 
next stanza as the psalmist vision of God's easy contempt for the 
rebels, a solo voice next represents Jehovah's anointment, an- 
other solo voice Messiah's decree, and then the whole chorus 
the psalmist admonition to all Kings and Rulers. — Bibliotheca 
Sacra , 1S50. 



THE CONQUEST COMPLETE. 2 J7 

I will declare the decree : 

The Lord hath said unto me, 

Thou art my son, 

This day have I begotten thee. 

Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, 

And the uttermost parts of the earth for my possession. 

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, 

Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. 

Be wise now therefore, O ye kings ! 

Be instructed, ye judges of the earth ! 

Serve the Lord with fear, 

And rejoice with trembling. 

Kiss the son, lest he be angry, 

And ye perish from the way ; 

When his wrath is kindled but a little. 

Blessed are all they who put their trust in him. 

It is not necessary to suppose that David had an ex- 
plicit conception of the Messiah. It is enough to suppose 
that he identified both himself and the Future Anointed 
with that ''house," in respect to which God had spoken 
both to himself and to the Greatest Son of the line, Thou 

ART MY SON, THIS DAY HAVE I BEGOTTEN THEE. 

In these great days of the kingdom, may have been 
sent to the Levite musicians by the king, and with his ap- 
proval, psalms of Asaph such as those beginning : 

The mighty God, even the Lord hath spoken 

And called the earth, from the rising to the setting sun, 

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty 

God hath shined. 

—Psalm 1. 
Truly God is good to Israel, 
Even to such as are of a clean heart. 

— Psalm lxxiii. 
In Judah is God known. 
His name is great in Israel. 

— Psalm lxxvi. 



Sljirtg-cisbtg Snnbaij. 



EAST OF JORDAN : 



LESSON. 

si viii. 15 ; 1 Chronicles xviii. 14 ; xii. 8-15 ; xxvi. 31, 32 ; vi. 78-81 ; 
2 Samuel xvii. 24, 27-29 ; Psalms cxxxiii. cxxviii. 

TITH the subjugation of Zobah, Damascus, Moab, and 
Edom, David's eastern boundary ran along the 
great Arabian desert from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. 
Some strong cities, or a single strong district like the 
Ammonite country, clung to independence, but the fear 
of the Hebrew king was upon all. Henceforward, we see 
gradually maturing that tribal order and national union 
which bore ripest fruit in the forty years' peaceful reign of 
Solomon. We cannot make out the full details of govern- 
ment ; but let us take such hints as we can find on a visit 
to some of these tribes in these palmy days of David's 
rule. 

Let us first cross the Jordan to the eastern pastoral 
tribes. From " the wide table-land, tossed about in wild 
confusion of undulating downs," you may look westward 
across the Jordan chasm upon the more barren hills of 
Ephraim and Benjamin, the softer perspective of the plain 
of Jezreel and the faint blue cliffs of Carmel. Face about 
now to the sun-rising, and climb to the very highest of those 
highlands of the east. You stand on the mountains of 
Gilead, among the families of Gad. The shepherds whom 
you see everywhere are hardy and adventurous, more 
(278) 



EAST OF JORDAN. 



279 



wild and daring than those who play the pipe among the 
flocks and feeding-troughs of Reuben. Eleven of them, 
swift as the gazelles down the mountains, braved the over- 




w 



v#' 



Co\- 



:Y<0 




111 




flowing Jordan to join the persecuted David in the rocks 
of Judah, and, with faces like lions, drove all before them. 
Towards the sun, beyond yonder glowing horizon, the 



2 So THIRTY-EIGHTH SUXDAY. 

shelving highland slope gradually away to the Ishmaelites' 
desert. To your right, the scattered herds of cattle look 
over the edge of Reuben's pastures down into the Salt 
Sea, and roam the ample swards eastward. To the left, 
your eye runs across the ragged fissure of Jabbok, the more 
distant line of the wide-branching Jarmuk, trips past the 
edge of Chinnereth far up the snow-helmeted Hermon, and 
sweeps back by Damascus, the rough basalt of Argob, and 
the doubly-broad fields of Bashan. That is the land of 
Manasseh, far beyond which are the outlying Zobah and 
the border of Euphrates. Here and there eastward you 
may catch the white glint of a tent where the flock edges 
on the desert, but solid towns and walls all through this 
region are the defence of the tribe. Ramoth-gilead is the 
central city. Let us descend to the lower mountains and 
enter it. We pass the little villages which lie near its walls. 
We salute the elders who sit at the gates, not only for the 
town and its suburbs, but for the whole Jordan valley, and 
for all the broad highlands from the Salt Sea to even be- 
yond the Jabbok, — for this is the central city of refuge for 
the eastern tribes. It holds a high and commanding posi- 
tion, or it would not have been chosen for the purpose. 
Many of the people whom we meet are Levites on their 
way to or from the gates, revered by the people ; for this 
is a Levitical city also. Here come two rough-clad shep- 
herds accompanied by a score of long-limbed, resolute 
Gileadites, bow and pike in hand, who are off with them 
against a band of prowling robbers who threatened, yester- 
day, the flocks on the frontier ; for to this place the score 
of shepherd villages and the thousand shepherds look for 
protection when roving Amalekites or Ammonites sweep 
in upon them from the sand. Here at the chief house of 
the place we find some such sheikh as Geber,* whose son 



* i Kings iv. 13. 



EAST OF JORDAN. 2 8l 

becomes one of Solomon's twelve officers over his king- 
dom twenty-five years later. Full of vigor, with a rude 
and stalwart beauty, he holds, we suppose, substantially 
the same power which his son will hold at that later day, 
ruling the small towns which Jair originally took under 
Moses,* if not the sixty great cities with walls and brazen 
bars in the land of Bashan. 

Across the Jabbok to the north in forests of oak and a 
wild country, we find that other Levitical city of conse- 
quence, Mahanaim, where King Ishbosheth attempted a 
capital. We enter either of its two western gates under a 
chambered wall or tower, and find it large enough to con- 
tain some hundreds and thousands besides its regular popu- 
lation, f It is revered for its age as well as for its power, 
for here the angels met Jacob ; and now, since David at 
Hebron slew Ishbosheth' s assassins and hung up the hands 
and feet that did the deed and brought the tidings, no city 
is more loyal to the rising king. What is this subordinate 
town under the shadow of its power ? It mmst be Roge- 
lim. The gray-bearded Barzillai, a very great man, is the 
patriarch of the place, seventy years old. Pottery and 
household wares are sold in the streets. Wheat, barley, 
and lentiles grow in the fields around. Bees hum in the 
woods and blossoming herbs. Butter, cheese, and honey, 
sheep and kine, are abundant. Festivals are made glad 
by singing men and women, and oriental luxury abounds 
under Berzillai's wise and generous sway, whom David 
afterwards so learns to love as to invite him to his court at 
Jerusalem. 

And yonder town, what is that ? That is Lodebar, 
where lives " the principal man of Gilead,"J Machir, 
who has under his roof, unknown to the king, a lame 
prince of Saul's house, about twenty-three years of age. 



* Numbers xxxii. 41. \ 2 Samuel xviii. 4. % Josephus. 



282 THIRTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY. 

It is that son of Jonathan, whose stumbling nurse crippled 
him for life in the panic after his father was slain. 

Down at the boundary of Reuben is Heshbon, with 
massive walls and double reservoirs like two eyes at the 
gate,* the first conquered city where Sihon held his 
capital. 

This side of it is Jazer, at the head of which waters in 
the old conquest run to meet the Jordan near Jericho. 
Her "daughter-towns" are around her, and she herself is 
of high consequence as the home of Jerijah, under whom 
are twenty-seven hundred Merarite Levites, distributed 
through all three of the eastern tribes. Diligent is his la- 
bor and diligent their study after the oriental type, to be 
skilled in the appointments and sacrifices of the taberna- 
cle, and to provide instruction in these laws to all these 
people of flocks and herds. Some of the fathers and sons, 
and perhaps himself, are now absent at Jerusalem. Dig- 
nified in his office, powerful with the royal court, revered 
for his religious mission, exalted over his twenty-seven 
hundred brethren, the visits of Jerijah and his company of 
scribes and assistants command profound respect from 
Damascus to Bozrah. 

Along that border, where herdsmen of Gad and herds- 
men of Reuben mingle, are Atroth-shophan, and Jogebah, 
with walled folds for sheep, at hand. Dibon and Ataroth 
are far toward Moab near the Arnon and its branches. 
Low down in the Jordan valley are Beth-haran and Beth- 
nimrah — all " fenced cities," long ago built by the people 
of Gad, and Succoth and Zaphon are yonder up the Jor- 
dan valley towards Chinnereth. 

Beyond the oak-forests which clothe the upper banks of 
the Jabbok, half-way from that torrent to Chinnereth, is 
Tabesh-g\z.vA t whose elders still gratefully preserve the 



* Song of Solomon vii. 4. 



EAST OF JORDAX. ■ 283 

bones of Saul under a tree near the city, in remembrance 
of his rescue of their town from Nahash. 

Let us go northward into Manasseh. Our mules take 
easy pace across these high downs, for we go far enough 
east to avoid the lower broken steeps of the Jabbok, and 
not far enough east to feel the desert sand. Past scores 
of flocks we go, down the little upper ravines, threading 
them and climbing them again, past herds of Manasseh, 
startling here a bevy of partridges and there a herd of 
gazelles or a fox, till we come to the broad waters of 
the stream Jaramk.* We are now more distant from Chin- 
nereth on the east than the Carmel headland is distant 
from Chinnereth on the west. We can see as we travel 
on, what are the natural boundaries of the eastern half- 
tribe of Manasseh. It sweeps a circuit around the head 
rivulets of this one stream, whose branches stretch far and 
wide, almost like the radii of a semicircle, and which is the 
largest tributary to the Jordan. Damascus, which is north 
of the centre of the tribe, is an outlying territory of the 
kingdom. Here at the extreme east we are in Bashan, 
with desert on the south and east and north-west. The 
men are warriors, resolute against Syrians or Ishmaelites. 
The cities are massive stone cities, at the entrance to 
which we see massive stone gates hung on great stone 
swivels. We will turn our steps only to Bozrah. Here 
we enter a city a mile and a half in diameter, with lofty 
walls and higher turrets, with a population of tens of 
thousands. The thriving sons of the desert are attracted 
here, for it is near at hand to them, and has plenty of 
fountains and provisions. They lurk near the smaller 
towns for desperate adventures, or boldly mingle for bar- 
ter in these streets- and traders' stalls. Everything is stone 



* We do not know the name of this stream at that time. It was 
at a later time called Jarmuk. 



284 THIRTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY. 

— its thick walls, the roofs and doors and window-shutters 
of houses, built irregularly along its straight streets, its great 
gates, its simple, primitive dwellings. The din of a busy 
oriental population greets you. Wayfarers, travelers from 
Damascus, or Sidon, or Succoth, or Ramoth-gilead, farm- 
ers with asses' loads or camel loads of harvest-products, 
throng the highways. The rich soil teems with grains and 
plants, and the turbahed citizens chaffer and salute each 
other on the streets. Sheikh Iddo rules here over all 
these strong cities to the rivers of Damascus. He will en- 
tertain you with the hospitality of a patriarch. At evening 
he will gather all the elders of the town into the court or 
the reception chamber of his house. You occupy the seat 
of honor on the raised divan next the corner at his side. 
Salaam after salaam bend to you as the principal men 
come in. Rings of turbans in concentric circle surround 
you. The divan is full, and the rest fold their legs 
under them on a thin mattress on the floor. ' An Abyssin- 
ian or Syrian slave brings in the fragrant mead or the 
"wine of Hebron," while you are questioned for news 
from Jerusalem, or Hebron, or the whole company talk 
of Hebrew politics, of war and prowess under King David, 
of the ancient poetry of Job, the stirring new psalms of 
the royal singer, or the wits of the company run up a 
graphic and rhythmic description of the hero of Zobah and 
of Elah. 

Next morning, from the citadel, a large square tower over- 
looking all the battlements, he will point out to you the whole 
plain ofBashan and of distant Moab. Standing here, you see 
diverging in straight lines a series of highways to the lead- 
ing cities of Bashan, Arabia, and Syria. One runs straight 
east twelve miles to Salcah on a conical hill, a small town, 
but important, as the villages near it and the companies on 
the road to it show. Another runs northward, and then 
bends north-west to Edrei ; two others north east up the 




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EAST OF JORDAN. 285 

mountains of Bashan ; and to Kerioth ; and another north 
to far-off Damascus. In the plain around you see a black 
loamy soil, luxuriant with grass and grain, with little hills, 
like islands, and towns on them or beside them, and 
everywhere dotted with settlements, and rich with terraces, 
or fig-trees, or noble woods of oak. Shepherds leading out 
their lines of sheep go with bow and arrow, and sling, or 
knife, or battle-axe, or pike, for protection from skulking 
robber or prowling hyena and wolf. Sheikh Iddo, splen- 
didly dressed in scarlet robe, and silken sash, and graceful 
turban, armed with a silver-hilted sword of Damascus and 
a dagger, stands in brilliant contrast with his humble 
brethren at the head of the sheep, with their coarse cotton 
shirts, leathern girdles, goat's-hair robes, and head-kerchief 
fastened with a camel's-hair fillet. We must not accept 
his invitation to take with him his circuit of cities. We 
will accept only this well-mounted guide, and return the 
parting salaams of the crowd around. Leaving him to 
gather his tax of sheep and oxen, grain and figs, wine and 
oil, labor and shekels — which are to be in part delivered 
to Jerijah for his Levites, and in part rendered to the gov- 
ernment at Jerusalem — to bear the orders of Joab for levies 
of men, and to distribute all the details of judicial and 
military and financial administration, we must press north- 
ward. As we behold the quiet and harmony of towns and 
tribes, we repeat with admiration and delight, the psalm 
which a returning Levite has brought from Jerusalem : 

Behold how good and how pleasant it is 

For brethren to dwell together in unity, 

Like the precious ointment (perfumed) up the head, 

That ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard. 

That went down to the skirts of his garments, 

Like the dew of Hermon. 

Like the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion — 

For there the Lord commanded the blessing. 

Even for evermore. — Psalm cxxxiii. 

Or as we see the vouns: families in their fresh health and 



286 THIRTY-EIGHTH SUNDA Y. 

power, we recall the psalm which the king has set to its 
chant for marriage festivities or for the "presentation" 
of children in the tabernacle : 

Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord. 

That walketh in his ways, 

For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands. 

Happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with thee. 

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house. 

Thy children like olive-plants round about thy table ! 

Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed 

That feareth the Lord. 

The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion 

And thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem. 

All the days of thy life. 

Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children. 

And peace upon Israel. — Psalm exxviii. 

Straight before us on our way to Edrei, cutting the 
horizon between us and Damascus, is Argob, whose rocky 
boundary rises like a line of cliffs out of this stoneless soil. 
For from this splendid plateau of fine mould, which stretches 
almost without a stone from Chinnereth to the desert, the 
rocky oval of Argob, twenty-one miles long and fourteen 
broad, stands up like a rocky island in the sea. The 
boundary is so distinct that it is called the " rope "—a 
black strong line from a distance. Within you find an 
ocean of basaltic rocks and boulders tossed about in the 
wildest confusion, and intermingled with fissures and crev- 
ices in every direction. Scores of solid cities are here, 
which we cannot now take time to visit. Hither refugees 
run from all regions and easily conceal themselves. This 
is the region which Machir, Jair, and Nobah, conquered in 
the days of Moses. Brave warriors they were ; and their 
descendants are loyal hearts, for Manasseh sent at least 
40,000 to Hebron when David was crowned. The dis- 
trict of Geshur lies somewhere here in Argob, or near it. 
The daughter of Sheikh Talmai is wife of King David. It 
is suspected he took her to secure this Cyclopean, rock- 



EAST OF JORDAN. 287 

ribbed, dangerous refuge, as well as for her beauty. Some 
say that Maachar was actually captured in battle or on a 
raid. It is wild blood, as Talmai's handsome grandson at 
Jerusalem is proving. Wild blood, indeed, to mingle with 
the pious stock of Jesse, and it will drive the mischievous 
and stubborn youth to fly to the protection of those 
heights of Geshur, as we shall see. 



Cljtrfu-ninflj JSnntmg. 



ORDER, RENOWN, AND POWER. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel viii. 15-18 ; 1 Chronicles xviii. 14-17 ; v. 9-1 1, 18 ; vii. 1-5 ; xiii. 1 ; 
1 Chronicles xxvii. ; Psalms cxxii., civ. 

HAD the Hebrews only put into thorough execution the 
divine design for the Hebrew state, they would have 
taken rank at the very conquest with the strongest nations 
the world has since seen. David aimed to complete the 
divine plan of order and of power. The union of feder- 
ated tribes was consolidated under him, and each tribe 
made strong by an internal order and government. With 
all their intellectual power the Greeks were never able to 
do what David did — to compact twelve States into a 
mutually sustaining and mutually sustained civil power. 

We have already seen something of this tribal order in 
the eastern pastoral tribes of Gad and Manasseh. Let us 
go on our way to some of the other tribes. 

Quickening the pace of our mules from Edrei and the 
Argob, and leaving the wide pastures, we may join a troop 
of horsemen, with their tall spears and glittering scabbards, 
on their way straight north to their garrisons at Damascus 
or Tibhath, but we cannot journey in their company to 
the distant garrisoned towns of Aram-Zobah. Turning to 
the left, we near the great Hermon, till we strike the road 
as it descends from Damascus southwards to the westward 
side of Merom and Chinnereth. Dan-laish, " quiet and 
(238) 



ORDER, RENOWN, AND POWER. 289 

secure," we pass at the head of the marshes of Merom. 
Meeting here another " thousand" of Joab's footmen on 




their wav 



military po: 






outlying territory, 



and meeting there a footman or a traveler from Hiram ajid 



290 



THIR T Y-NINTH S UN DA Y. 



the stirring Tyre on our right, we follow the road clown to 
Kedesh of Naphtali. It is not a large town, we see, but 
on a fine site, looking down upon a small green vale, and 
the whole surrounded by fertile fields, where Sheikh Jeri- 
moth rules over his tribe. We have come into a more 
compact country. These mountains are smaller and more 
even than the wild heights of Gilead. The scenery is 
quiet and beautiful, the forests rich, the prospects noble 
and varying ; the soil so fruitful as to invite the very slug- 
gard to labor; the trees of all sorts. Here you see the 
burdened asses on their way to Hamrnoth-dor ; there lies 
Kaftan ; yonder as you cross into Zebulun you catch a 
glimpse of a fishing -boat crossing the full breadth of 
Chinnereth. 

In these smaller States the population becomes more 
dense, and the people both seem and are more active. 
From the days of Deborah, the Zebnlunites have handled 
the pen of the scribe. Fisheries of Chinnereth ; " out- 
goings" of commerce at the great westward sea; figs, 
grapes, wine, oil, grains, more abundant than sheep and 
oxen ; profits of merchandise with traders from Damascus 
and Phoenicia and even Egypt — all these, as well as those 
valiant warriors not of double heart, who can " set the 
battle in array," and some of whom we met in yonder 
"thousand" — must be cared for by Ishmaiah, the tribal 
ruler who, from Rimmon or from Chisloth-tabor, details 
his assistants, and goes to render account of his steward- 
ship at Jerusalem. 

Issachar is a still more attractive community — a little 
State nestling in its gentle valleys. You may count nearly 
a score of towns as you look down into this charming lap 
of countiy: Jezreel is the centre, with Mount Gilboa to 
the east, Shunem on the west beyond Little Hermon, 
Chesulloth on the north-west of Tabor, Endor between 
Hermon and Tabor, Taanach and Meaiddo on the eastern 



ORDER, RENOWN, AND POWER^ 2 QI 

end of Carmel's northward slope, Beth-shan down by the 
Jordan. North-east* the hill-country screens off the 
waters of Chinnereth, and north-west a high parallel 
crest "trends away to the hump of Carmel." Omri 
here keeps wisdom and justice and authority over 
a tribe of men who have understanding of the times, 
and who know what Israel ought to do. His peo- 
ple are of one heart, as they are compelled to be, for their 
valley is the high-road of nations and of battle — the funnel 
through which wide streams of people pour or rush — 
and full of fruits and crops and beauty to allure the rob- 
bers up the gateway of the Jordan at Beth-shan or the 
Philistines over the notches of Carmel. Here comes 
Sheikh Omri out of Jezreel. His lively mule, sleek and 
fat with barley, bears his manly form, more broad and 
stately from his ample turban and flowing robes. His 
bright-faced son, whose downy cheek betokens the coming 
beard, rides by his side, bearing spear and fierce, free 
glance like his father. Milk in a lordly dish, bread-cakes 
fresh from the oven, chickens and a calf steaming under 
the napkins, he turns back to offer you, a Hebrew trav- 
eler from Gilead. Free in gesture, independent in bear- 
ing, he will honor your visit by a ride to the chief places 
in this valley, already so remarkable. Up and over the 
undulating table-land, park -like with clumps of tree and 
vistas of green turf, he takes you by a zigzag path through 
the dwarf-oak and prickly shrubs to the top of Tabor, 
where he pictures to you the battle-scene when Sisera 
lighted down from his chariot and fled away on his feet, 
and points out the opening in the mountains through 
which Barak chased him to the house of Heber. Another 
day he will take you over to A fount Gilboa to show you 
where the Philistines stripped King Saul ; and thence 
onwards, not stopping to return the salaams of his people, 
through wide - spread meadows and vineyards, through 



292 THIRTY-NINTH SUNDAY. 

shadows of fig-trees and palms and terebinths, past gar- 
dens and olive-yards where men, women, and children 
are gathering the first-fruits for the Feast of the Taber- 
nacles — discoursing of Gideon and his dream and the 
Midianite plunderers — he brings you to the gates of Beth- 
shan, past which Gideon's host plunged after the enemy, 
and from which the men of Jabesh-gilead took the bodies 
of the king and his sons. " Those days," he says, " were 
before our good King David. Against him the Midian- 
ites and Philistines do not dare lift a spear." " Down the 
valley yonder is Succoth, where our father Jacob made 
booths for his cattle. After two Sabbaths is the Feast of 
Booths. To-morrow we proclaim the new-moon at Jez- 
reel ; and after one Sabbath, this year the caravan goes this 
away down the valley up to Jerusalem. Ishmaiah, son of 
Obadiah, brings our brother Zebulun with us, and we 
make up the caravan here at Beth-shan. Asher and 
Naphtali go together over the mountains." 

If we should meet the caravan on its way, we would 
hear, perhaps, the voices from the train chanting the king's 
psalms, or dwelling with long reiteration on a song of 
ascent to the sacred and joyful feasts of the Lord, recently 
composed, as 

A SONG OF DEGREES OF DAVID. 

I was glad when they said unto me : 

Let us go into the house of the Lord ; 

Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem ! 

Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together, 

Whither the tribes go up — the tribes of the Lord — 

Unto the testimony of Israel, 

To give thanks unto the name of the Lord. 

For there are set thrones of judgment — 

The thrones of the house of David. 

Pray ye for the praise of Jerusalem : 

They shall prosper that love thee. 

Peace be within thy walls, 

And prosperity within thy palaces ! 

For my brethren and companions' sake will I now say : 

Peace be within thee. 



ORDER, RENOWN, AND POWER. 293 

Because of the house of the Lord our God, 

I will seek thy good ' — Psalm cxxii. 

We must not linger in every tribe and at every city, as 
the people are everywhere now in the comfortable assur- 
ance of peace and prosperity. Not that they are free 
from the presence of their old enemies, for the faces of 
the Amorite and Hivite and Canaanite are here and there 
mixed with the people of the towns, and here and there 
they hold a town of their own. But they are subdued. 
There is a subtle power all abroad in the land. Joab by the 
king's direction has a military officer for every month in 
the year ; and twenty-four thousand warriors in turn are 
constantly ready against the foe. They dare not move 
against the orderly administration of this God-fearing king, 
for there is a God who is with him as his shield and his 
mighty strength. Everywhere, therefore, you see the 
peaceful administration of elders at the town gates — each 
city with its own municipal administration ; each tribe 
with its own tribal head and tribal arrangements ; every 
tribe bound to every other by a common education, a 
common religion, a common ancestry. Levites instruct ; 
priests interpret the sacrifices ; scribes unfold with reverent 
care the parchments of Mosaic law, the histories of Sam- 
uel, the king's Psalms, the ancestral traditions — and all 
this is alike through all the tribes, for priests or Levites 
from every tribe meet at Jerusalem, and compare and 
correct their teachings. The fields are filled with hus- 
bandmen. Smiths forge the rude tools of husbandry. 
The spindle and the distaff take hold of the wool and 
the flax. Skillful maidens and housewives elaborate and 
embroider robes and girdles which will be heir-looms 
for generations. City walls are repaired or rebuilt. Fields 
are bought. Wells are dug. Terraces are laid along the 
hill-sides. Vineyards are planted. Convocations of tribes 
assemble. Marriages are happy in pious union. Burials 



2Q4 THIR T Y-AVN TH SUNDA V. 

have the assurance that the sepulchre will not be defilet 
by hostile foes. Births and wealth are the increase of the 
nation. 

Look into the valley of Sharon — a very garden, beauti- 
ful and large. In pastures amid oranges, lemons, plums, 
quinces, apricots, and bananas, you may see the royal 
herds. Each herd has its keeper. But over the keepers, 
as Doeg was in Saul's day, is Shitrai of the Sharon plain, 
responsible to the king's officers at Jerusalem for his trust, 
as he is for tribal rule to Hosea of Ephraim, or Joel of 
Manasseh under whichever he may lead his flock. Others 
have other trusts directly under the king : Shaphat over 
herds in valleys and plains outside Sharon ; the Ishmael- 
ite Obil over the lines of tethered camels from pasture to 
pasture ; Jehdeiah over the asses, " the riding and breed- 
ing stock of the king ;" and the Hagerite Jaziz, overseer 
of the royal sheep and his flocks. The royal vineyards 
located in the tribes are cared for by Shimei of Ramah, 
but the grapes themselves and wines are stored in cellars 
under Zabdi of Siphmoth in Judah.* The nurture of the 
king's olive-trees and sycamores in the low country by the 
sea is under the horticultural skill of Baal-hanan of Geder ; 
the olive-oil stored in cellars by Joash. All royal fields 
for tillage are cared for by Ezri-ben-Chelub. And Jehona- 
than is the general superintendent of all store-houses in 
open fields, walled cities, small villages, and strong cas- 
tles. And thus, every portion of the king's provisions, 
located at a distance, has a supervisor under the king's 
council and government clerks at Jerusalem, while each 
tribe its efficient order. But the two greatest and most 
powerful tribes at the head of affairs, historically and politi- 
cally, are Ephraim and Judah. Judah is now in the as- 
cendant. The warriors of each have always swarmed at 



* i Samuel xxx. 28. 



ORDER, RENOWN, AND POWER. 295 

the first alarm of the trumpet. Benjamin and Manasseh 
have long allied themselves to Ephraim, and Simeon to 
Judah ; and the wise and able elders of Ephraim or Judah 
have borne sway over the less conspicuous tribes from the 
day when the two tribes had the first lots in the distribu- 
tion of the land. It was a master-stroke of David — a 
providential disposition of boundaries and of history — 
to place the capital at Jerusalem, where he was actually 
in Benjamin, while he was next to Judah ; virtually con- 
ceding to Ephraim the location, while he made his brother 
Eliab tribal ruler of Judah, and his nephew Joab general- 
in-chief of the army. During Saul's reign, the tribe of 
Judah had been much alienated by his cruel persecution 
of one of her sons. Now, however, the very towns made 
conspicuous by the persecutions — Ziph, Maon, Carmel, 
Ziklag, Hebron, Bethlehem — appear in honor and are 
intense in their attachment to the royal outlaw.* Benja- 
min is gratified that the stronghold of Jebus is at last cap- 
tured and is the seat of all the royal accessories. The 
consummate address and tact of David make the jealous 
Ephraim content. Two of the twelve monthly military cap- 
tains are from Ephraim. As more than half the tribes must 
usually pass through that tribe thrice a year to the great 
national festivals, and thus increase her internal trade and 
activity, as with Manasseh and Benjamin she is in the 
very centre of position and power, she still may consider 
herself the chief of all the tribes. She has not the cold- 
ness of the north ; she has not the dry heat of the south. 



* Jashobeam, who joined him at Ziklag (compare 1 Chronicles 
xii. 6 with xxvii. 2) ; Benaiah from Rabzeel in the extreme 
south (xxvii. 5, 6, with xi. 22) ; Ira from Tekoa (xi. 28, with 
xxvii. 9); Hezrai of Southern Carmel (xi. 37, with 2 Samuel 
xxiii. 35) ; and Uriah the Hittite, or Hethite (1 Chronicles xi. 41, 
with 2 Samuel xxiii. 39), from Hebron, or from near Hebron. 



2 g6 THIRTY-NINTH SUNDAY. 

She has a moist, vapory atmosphere and a various climate. 
Dipping her plain of Sharon into the great sea, and her 
eastward valley into the fords of Jordan, her wide, high 
plains and running streams and hundred villages and 
towns are in the heart of the central mountains. She- 
chem, with Ebal and Gerizim, Shiloh, Gilgal, Beth-haran, 
with their orchards, vine-terraces, olive-valleys, pastures, 
and prospects — these, with a great highway from north to 
south in the Sharon valley, a great highway on the moun- 
tains, and her inaccessible mountains themselves, give her 
a glory which her energetic population nourish and praise. 
The king himself goes out at times to survey his realms. 
Full of an instinctive admiration of the grand mountains 
of the north and of the immeasurable sea on the west, 
with an eye for the beautiful and the sublime in grass, 
rills, birds, fruits, fishes, storms, oriental thunder, the sun, 
the moon, the darkness, the mystery of food and of life, 
the marvelous variety of climate and surface and produc- 
tion of that wonderful little land, his heart wells up in 
lively emotion towards the Giver and Creator. From 
such a survey of nature in his own kingdom, does he pour 
forth to his lyre, the noble One Hundred and Fourth 
psalm : 

Eless the Lord, O my soul, 

O Lord, my God ! Thou art very great ! 

Thou art clothed with honour and majesty ! 

Who coverest thyself with light or with a garment ! 

Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain ! etc. 



He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, 

And the herb for the service of man, 

That he may bring forth food out of the earth. 

The trees of the Lord are full of sap, 

The cedars of Lebanon which he hath planted 

Where the birds make their nests ; 

The stork ! the fir-trees are her house ! 

The high hills, a refuge for the wild goats ! 

The rocks for the conies ! 

O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! 
In wisdom hast thou made them all, etc. 



Jfortietlj Sttubaj. 



THE ROYAL COURT AND FAMILY. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel viii. 16-18 ; xx. 23-26 ; xxiii. 20-23, 37~3% \ x Chronicles xviii. 15-17 ; 
xxvii. s, 6, 25, 32-34 ; 2 Samuel iii. 2-5 ; 1 Chronicles iii. 1-9 ; Psalm ciii. 

THE very ambition which enticed the Hebrew nation 
to seek a king was the ambition for kingly display. 
David therefore was surrounded with royal circumstance, 
and on State occasions with Oriental pomp. To conduct 
the business of the realm, there was a cabinet composed 
of men made illustrious by their deeds or their character. 
The Minister of War was Joab, whose achievement in 
taking Jebus could never be forgotten, and whose per- 
sonal fierceness made him a terror alike to rebel and to 
foreign foe. He commanded in person except when the 
king commanded. As an armor-bearer, he had a valiant 
man, Nahari, of a town, Beeroth, ten miles north of 
Jerusalem. He had his own house in the wilderness, 
that is, the wilderness of Judah. He had a strong body- 
guard when he went out to war.* He had lands in his 
own right not far from Jerusalem. Benaiah was captain 
of the king's body-guard, who came from Kabzeel, in 
the south of Simeon, whom David undoubtedly found 
there in his humiliation. Benaiah inherited valor from a 
valiant father. Although not literally one of the three 
mightiest men, he was so rich in deeds that he was reck- 



* 2 Samuel xviii. 15. 

(297) 



298 for tie th s unda y. 

oned as belonging to the three, and as ranking higher for 
personal bravery than the thirty mighty, of whom Joab's 
armor-bearer, Nahari, was one. Among his mighty deeds, 
he had braved a lion in his den, on a cold, slippery, 
snowy day ;* killed two lion-like warriors in the war with 
the Moabites ; and, in his native borders, had met an 
Egyptian brave, wrenched his spear from him, and had 
slain him with his own weapon. He had under him the 
Cherethites and Pelethites, executione?'s crnd runners,^ 
and he commanded the army in the third month. He 
lived to the days of Solomon, was Joab's executioner, and 
was advanced to the supreme command of the army after 
Joab's death. \ The Minister of Finance was Adoram. 
He must have had a singular aptitude for his difficult 
duties of assessment and collection ; for he continued 
financial minister throughout the whole reign of Solomon, 
and met his death under King Rehoboam, in the faithful 
discharge of his duties. § His position, if not now estab- 
lished, became established five or six years later. The 
Recorder or Chancellor was Jehoshaphat, who keeps the 
chronicles as they were kept in the Persian court in the 
times of Esther, Ezra, and Daniel — an office of great 



* " Apparently in a severe winter, a lion had come up from his 
usual haunts to some village in search of food, and had taken 
possession of the tank or cistern to the terror of the inhabitants." 
— Speakc? : s Commentary. 

\ The meaning of Cherethites and Pelethites is not clear. 
From the fact that Cherethites are mentioned in i Samuel xxx. 
14, in close connection with Philistines (16), or as apparently 
synonymous with Philistines, it has been thought that the Cher- 
ethites and Pelethites were foreign mercenaries, a thing not un- 
common in Oriental monarchies. But is it probable that David, 
who had such personal power over his own people in the begin- 
ning of his pious zeal, would have surrounded his person with 
heathen soldiers? 

% 1 Kings ii. 34, 35. § 1 Kings xii. 18 ; 2 Chronicles x. 18. 



THE ROYAL COURT AND FAMILY. 299 

importance. He probably had under him scribes, made 
record of the decrees of the king, of the signal services 
of any subject, catalogues of troops, statements of revenue 
administration, and produced at the king's desire, the 
record of all events in the kingdom — in short, he kept the 
annals of political, judicial, and military events.* Sheva 
or Seraiah, we suppose, was the king's private secretary, 
or keeper of the king's personal journal of the king's own 
acts or words. It was his duty to answer letters, to reply 
to petitions, to write despatches, to draw up proclamations 
and edicts. The Chief Ministers of Religion were Zadok 
and Abiathar, over the two lines or houses of priests; 
and Azmaveth was the Royal Treasurer, or custodian of 
the public moneys. 

While this was the arrangement for the grand depart- 
ments of state, we catch a glimpse also of the royal 
household. The children of David were now growing to be 
young men and young women. Amnon, the oldest, born 
shortly after David was crowned at Hebron, could not 
have been less than nineteen years of age • and Chiliab, or 
Daniel, the beautiful Abigail's son, might have been only a 
few months younger. Adonijah, the fourth child, as well as 
Absalom, the third, was very fair ; and the indulgent 



* For the mode in which events were noted by a Recorder, 
■ — see Esther ii. 23 ; vi. 1 ; iii. 12 ; viii. 9 ; Ezra v. 17, vi. 1, 2 
and iv. 15, 19. 

"Jehoshaphat was Chancellor, not merel)' the national annalist, 
according to the Septuagint and Vulgate, i. e., the recorder of the 
most important incidents and affairs of the nation, but an officer 
resembling the magister memories of the later Romans, or the 
waka nuvis of the Persian court, who keeps a record cf every- 
thing that takes place around the king, furnishes him with an 
account of all that occurs in the kingdom, places his vise upon 
all the king's commands, and keeps a special protocol of all 
these things." — Keil and Delilzsch. 



300 



FOR TIE TH S UNDA Y. 



father could never deny him anything.* Absalom's young 
sister Tamar, a mere girl, had a Jewish beauty like her 
brother's, and was quite dear in his affection, selfish 
youth though he was. Shephatiah and Ithream must 
have been between fifteen and eleven years of age. Ibhar 
and Elishama and Eliphelet were probably at that time 
the only children in childhood and infancy born in Jeru- 
salem. As David, like the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob, 
took concubines in addition to wives, there were other 
children not admitted to royal rights, but holding a subor- 
dinate relation to the family. So that we see the pro- 
priety with which David himself is called "patriarch" in 
the book of the Acts. The sons, for instruction or for 
care, we suppose, were " under Jehiel, the son of Hach- 
moni," or " the Hachmonite." They acted either, young 
as they were, in some way as priests, or in some way as 
assistants about the court. 

There was a strong affection in the king's heart towards 
his children. This we know in respect of Absalom and 
Adonijah. The child Adonijah, we are expressly told, he 
did not like to displease. The king's recall of Absalom, 
and his kiss, about nine years after this time, after his 
murder of Amnon, his pitiful sorrow over that beautiful 
traitor's death, as well as his grief over Amnon, show his 
deep, tender heart. We need no proof that the heart out 
of which flowed all the tender effusions of the Psalms, 
and the generous grief over Abner and Saul and Jona- 
than, was full of a quick sensibility towards children. We 
may be sure there was animation and sparkle in eye and 
face and bearded lip and gesture, as the king made sport 
with his little ones, or gave zest and quickening to their 
now ripening minds. We are not likely to be wrong if 
we think of him taking some of them with him on an 



* i Kings i. 6. 



THE ROYAL COURT AND FAMILY. 



301 



excursion to Rachel's tomb and Bethlehem, and there 
telling over the stones of his father Jesse ; or giving 
more advanced instruction in the history and principles of 
religion to the older sons on important visits to Sharon, 
Shiloh, or Jericho, through Manasseh to Gilboa and 
Jezreel, or through Judah and Simeon to Hebron and 
Kabzeel or Hormah. For the children of his house, as 
well as for the children of the nation, perhaps after some 
one of his own house had been sick, or he had seen the 
children of other houses cut off as flowers beneath the 
feverish south wind, he may have written that most 
pathetic and most noble psalm, the One Hundred and 
Third. Who can fail to see that this is indeed 

A PSALM OF DAVID. 

Bless the Lord, O my soul, 

And all that is within me, bless his holy name. 

Bless the Lord, O my soul ! and forget not all his benefits, 

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, 

Who healeth all thy diseases, etc. 

The Lord is merciful and gracious, 
Slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy ; 
He hath not dealt with us after our sins, 
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 

Like as a father pitieth his children, 

So the Lord pitieth them that fear him. 

For he knoweth our frame, 

He remembereth that we are dust ! 

As for man, his days are as grass ! 

As a flower of the field so he flourisheth ! 

For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, 

And the place thereof knoweth it no more. 

But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, 

Upon them that fear him, 

And his righteousness unto children's children. 

To such as keep his covenant ; 

And to those who remember his commandments to do them. 

The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, 

And his kingdom ruleth over all, 

Bless the Lord, ye, his angels, etc. 

— Psalm ciii. 



302 



FORTIETH SUNDA Y. 



There were other persons, like Jehiel, who held positions 
around and near the king's family, but whose specific 
duties, like Jehiel's, are not clearly defined. Ira the 
Jairite (perhaps from the Jattir of David's persecution) 
was a prince or chief man about David. Some person 
must have been appointed of course to make daily pro- 
vision for the royal family ; to supervise the retinue of serv- 
ants, and be responsible for the accumulating service of 
brass and silver and gold, as Ahishar was over the king's 
household in Solomon's time.* An uncle or nephew 
(the word may mean either) of the king, Jonathan, in high 
repute for wisdom, and a scribe, was a counsellor to the 
king, very likely in an office of friendship ; for Ahithophel, 
from the little town of Giloh, south of Hebron, and whose 
wisdom was beginning to be reckoned almost divine,f 
was the official counsellor. And Hushai, the Aichite, 
was the king's private companion and confidant, and was 
in the end more than a match for Ahithophel. Gad and 
Nathan, to be sure, stood in less demonstration of power 
towards David, on account of his general piety, than 
Samuel stood towards Saul. Gad we have already seen 
with David in the "hold" of Moab, and Nathan we 
have seen in the palace of Jerusalem, considering with 
the king the cedar house unto the Lord ; Gad the older, 
Nathan the younger. They were connected with the 
royal court, for each wrote a book of the Acts of David, J 
and Nathan lived to write a book of the Acts of Solomon. 
Both gained a long celebrity in assisting King David to 
perfect the musical arrangements of the worship. § 

These all, with the multitude of servants necessary to 
the details of Oriental life, allied as they all were to the 
double lines of priestly families and to that ceremonial 



* I Kings iv. 6. f 2 Samuel xvi. 23. 

% 1 Chronicles xxix. 29, 30. § 2 Chronicles xxiv. 25. 



THE ROYAL COURT AND FAMILY. 303 

which the king was developing into great impressiveness, 
and to the musicians, constituted a great, powerful, and 
imposing establishment. Everything had largely expanded 
since the day's of Saul's court, twenty years before. 
Indeed, all things considered, there had never been any- 
thing like this in the world. And the youthful David, 
the friend of Jonathan, who played the minstrel at Saul's 
court, was now the inspiring head of all. Skilful with 
his simple lute or lyre when a youth, he was now at the 
head of majestic choruses, which sent his own pious 
verse and song down to every lowliest home of a pious 
nation. Expert in daring when a youth, he was now the 
head of the army ; pious in youthful life, he was now at 
the head of grand religious institutions. " More remark- 
able still, though not himself a priest, he wore the priestly 
dress of white linen, offered the sacrifices, gave the 
priestly benediction, and, as if to include his whole court 
within the same sacerdotal sanctity, Benaiah, the captain 
of his guard, was a priest by descent and joined in the 
sacred music. David himself and the ' captains of his 
host' arranged the prophetical duties, and his sons are 
actually called priests,* as well as Ira of Manasseh. Such 
a union was never seen before or since in the Jewish 



* The Hebrew in 2 Samuel viii. 18 reads, " and David's sons 
were priests." Of course they could not act in the office of 
priest till thirty years of age, even if extraordinary, divine ap- 
pointment assigned them like their father to the office. But 
David may have intended that some of them should grow up as 
it were in the tabernacle, like Samuel. It is possible that they 
may have assisted as young Levites or in the singing, or as 
attendants on the priests on some occasions. The parallel pass- 
age in 1 Chronicles xviii. 17, reads in the Hebrew, "were chief 
at the board of the king, which may be taken as explaining 
' priests.' " The}- may have been advisers admitted to the king's 
confidence. The same Hebrew word in 1 Kings iv. 5, is used of 
one called the king's friend. 



3 04 F0R TIE TH s UN-DA V. 

history. Even Solomon fell below it in some points. 
Bat from this time the idea took possession of the Jewish 
mind and was never lost. What the heathen historian 
Justin antedates by referring it back to Aaron, is a just 
description of the effect of the reign of David : ' The 
priest soon is made the king ; and always thereafter, this 
was the custom among the Jews, to make the same per- 
sons kings and priests, whose justice and religion being 
mixed, it is incredible how strong they grew.' "* 

We need now only to bring before us the adornment of 
the capital city, and we shall see the advancing dignity of 
their king before the people. Joab had undertaken the 
rebuilding of the city, on the capture of Jebus. King 
David's palace had gone up under Tyrian workmen. Soon 
we find separate houses for separate sons. The new 
tabernacle had been skilfully wrought and pitched in its 
elaborate compartments near the palace. The Ark 
brought with it revival of ceremonious care. The whole 
ceremonial must have been carefully revived. The festi- 
vals and Sabbaths were restored and made glad by David's 
kingly and priestly presence in the courts of the Lord's 
house. Ministers of State and of Religion, whose homes 
were in distant towns of the tribes, had their apartments 
near palace and tabernacle, and worshipped before the 
altars. Victory, triumph, deliverance, on every side, with 
the advancing power of Jehovah were in the choruses of 
thanksgiving and praise which ascended with the smoke of 
the altar. 

* Stanley. 



Jfortn-frrst Suniraj. 



A GENEROUS AND ADORING HEART. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel ix. ; i Samuel xx. 11-17, 23 ; xxiii. 16, 17 ; Psalms xxiii., cxlv., xcii., 
xxix., xc, cxxxiv. 

WITH all this grand regal power and a pomp which 
could at any hour be displayed to awe the people, 
we find the king as natural and simple in the benevolent 
impulses of his heart as when a child at Bethlehem, a 
minstrel at the court of Saul, or a persecuted outlaw in 
the mountains of Judah and Simeon. 

An illustrious example of his simplicity and generosity 
now occurs. The king recalled, one day, his loving 
covenant with Jonathan. He had been this score of years 
absorbed in the multifarious details of establishing and 
arranging the kingdom. Nothing had occurred to prove 
any descendant of Jonathan alive, but he had given his 
promise perhaps too little thought. The promise had 
reference, however, to the time when his enemies should 
be put down and his kingdom established ; and as he now 
was fully confirmed on his throne, he should take 
leisure to make detailed inquiry. That day had truly 
come which Jonathan had predicted, when the Lord had 
cut off the enemies of David, every one from the face of 
the earth. "Beautiful prince of a miserable king !" must 
the king have thought, " so magnanimous and so pious ! 
would that I could fulfil the covenant ! Alas ! He cannot 

(305) 



3 o6 FOR T Y-FIR S T S UN DA ] '. 

even be next to me. I cannot even show kindness to his 
house. Is there no way to return his loving magnanimity 
and piety? It may be that some child in all Saul's house 
lies hid away from the divinely powerful king. For Jona- 
than's sake, it must not be so." Forthwith he bids inquiry 
be made. A man named Ziba, who had been a servant 
in Saul's family, is brought to the king. Josephus says 
that he was a freedman. If so, then he was undoubtedly 
set free by the ruin of Saul's house. At any rate, during 
the twenty years, he has acquired considerable estate, 
having secured twenty servants of his own and a large 
family of fifteen sons. David examines him, and compels 
him to tell what he knows of the house of Saul, whether 
any one is left — a fearful question to be asked by an 
oriental monarch. "Jonathan has a lame son, living." 
"Jonathan! a son / Where?" "Across the Jordan, in 
Lo-debar, near Mahanaim, in the house of Machir, the 
son of Ammiel." Forthwith royal messengers — of the Pele- 
thites probably — are despatched with friendly and assuring 
words to Mephibosheth. There they find him, a married 
man of twenty-five years, himself the father of a young 
child, Micha. The family are brought to Jerusalem. A 
fear and a humility, such as is natural to persons in his 
physical condition, mark his presentation to the king; but 
the generous and tender interest of a father towards an 
unfortunate child marks the bearing of the king. Plausi- 
ble pretexts were neither wanting nor unfamiliar to such 
an oriental court as David's for preventing that succession 
which was here in danger of being perpetuated, and which 
was afterwards perpetuated for generations through 
Mephibosheth and Micha.* This was not David's mind. 
He at once restores to Jonathan's son all the personal 
estate of Saul. Ziba is summoned, who probably has 
made his success by occupying some part of the king's 

* i Chronicles viii. 34, 40 ; ix. 40-44. 



A GENEROUS AND ADORING HEART. 307 

possessions on Saul's death. He is notified that Saul's 
lands are Mephibosheth's, and that he and his family and 
servants are appointed to the care of the lands under 
Mephibosheth's orders — an appointment which, perhaps, 
took from Ziba his absolute freedom, but which yet gave 
him an honorable connection with the king's court and 
palace.* As for Mephibosheth, King David provided his 
family a dwelling near his palace, or an apartment in it, 
and gave him a place with his own sons at the royal table 
— a beautiful fulfilment of his covenant with Jonathan ; 
for it was when David was compelled to absent himself 
from his seat at Saul's table, that Jonathan and David 
had pledged their loving faith. What a touching example 
now is this to the growing children in the king's house of 
nobility of soul and lofty truth of character, silently 
repeated at every daily meal ! Michal herself, who had 
no children, must have taken pleasure at the presence of 
her noble brother's son and the little grandson — the only- 
survivor of her father's house. 

Happy must have been the king's heart — more happy 
in its satisfaction over such an act than in all the con- 
templation of his power and renown. Happy the sweet 
adoration and gratitude which went up to God in private 
devotion and open worship. Glad the psalms of praise 
springing out of this joyous domestic life, and out of the 
consciousness of a generous respect of his people, but 
still more out of a heart divinely moved to godlike 
impulses and purposes — psalms of instruction alike to 
the children of his house and the people of his nation. 

Here, therefore, in this happy and pious state of mind, 



* " The difference this would make in Ziba's portion would only 
be that instead of paying in the fruits of the confiscated land to 
David, he would have to pay them in to Mephibosheth." — Speak- 
ers Commentary. 



3 o8 FOR T Y-FIR S 7 S UXDA J \ 

we like to find the spring of some of those rippling and 
melodious psalms which are like the gentle, sunlit, deep 
waters in their quiet and constant trust in God. 

After some such excursion with family or children, as 
we have imagined to his brother Eliab's house-ruler of 
Judah, at Bethlehem, when every memory of the old 
home-life and of the old pastures would be awakened, and 
be powerfully associated with the power and fidelity of 
God, at such a time, we think of the king expressing his 
own repose on God, and seeking to teach his children 
and his people the excellence of such a reliance, in 

THE TWENTY-THIRD PSALM. 
The Lord is my Shepherd ; 
I shall not want. 

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures ; 
He leadeth me beside the still waters ; 
He rcstoreth my soul. 

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness, 
For his name's sake : 

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 
I will fear no evil. 
For thou art with me ; 

Thy crook and thy staff they comfort me ; 

Thou prcparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies : 
Thou anointest my head with oil ; 
My cup runneth over. 

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, 
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.* 

Who can admire enough the lowliness of a king so 
exalted, who makes himself but one of a flock under God 
the Shepherd, or the beautiful mode in which meekness, 
dependence, confidence and absolute repose of soul are 
here transfused into the hearts of the people. 

In such a spirit as this, too, it was both natural and 
honorable in David to confess and teach that he, in his 
height of power, was but an humble subject under God 



* The psalm may have been substantially composed in his youthful shepherd 
life, but retouched and sent, with additions, to the tabernacle on some such 
occasion as this. 



A GENEROUS AND ADORING HEART. 309 

his King. Precisely such a psalm is the One Hundred 
and Forty-fifth, of which the ancient Jews held so high an 
opinion that they said that "he is a son of the world to 
come who is able to pray this psalm three times a day 
from his heart." 

A PSALM OF PRAISE OF DAVID. 
I will extol thee, my God, O King, 
And I will bless thy name for ever and ever ; 
Every day will I bless thee. 
And I will praise thy name for ever and ever. 
Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised. 
And his greatness is unsearchable ; 
One generation shall praise thy works to another, 
And shall declare thy mighty acts ; 
I will speak of the glorious honor of thy majesty, 
And of thy wondrous works. 

And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts, 
And I will declare thy greatness ; 

They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, 
And shall sing of thy righteousness. 
Jehovah is gracious, and full of compassion, 
Slow to anger, and of great mercy ; 
Jehovah is good to all ; 

And his tender mercies are over all his works. 
All thy saints shall praise thee, O Jeho-vah, 
And thy saints shall bless thee ; 
They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, 
And talk of thy power. 

To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, 
And the glorious majesty of his kingdom ; 
Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, 
And thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. 
Jehovah upholdeth all that fall, 
And raiseth up all that be bowed down. 
The eyes of all wait upon thee, 
And thou givest them their meat in due season ; 
Thou openest thine hand, 

And satisfiest the desire of every living thing. 
Jehovah is righteous in all ways, 
And holy in all his works ; 
Jehovah is nigh unto all that call upon him, 
To all that call upon him in truth. 
He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him ; 
He also will hear their cry, and will save them ; 
Jehovah preserveth all them that love him, 
But all the wicked he will destroy. 
My mouth shall speak the praise of Jehovah : 
And let all flesh bless his holy name, for ever and ever. 



3 1 o FOR T i T -FJR S T S UA 'DA Y. 

We are to consider now that among the revised and 
established institutions of the land the Sabbath was honor- 
ed by king and people. For the tabernacle worship, 
then, we have 

A PSALM OR SONG FOR THE SABBATH-DAY. 

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, 

And to sing praises unto thy name, O most High ; 

To show forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, 

And thy faithfulness every night. 

Upon the ten-stringed instrument and the lute, 

Upon the harp with a solemn sound ; 

For thou, Lord, hast made me glad by thy doings. 

In the works of thy hands I greatly rejoice. 

How great are thy works, O Lord, 

How deep thy purposes ! 

But the unwise man knoweth not this, 

And the fool understandeth it not. 

When the wicked spring up like grass, 

And all who practice iniquity flourish, 

It is but to be destroyed for ever! 

Thou, O Lord, art for ever exalted. 

For, lo ! thine enemies, O Lord. 

For, lo ! thine enemies perish, 

And dispersed are all who do iniquity ! 

But my horn thou exaltest, like the buffalo's, 

I am anointed with fresh oil ; 

Mine eye has gazed with joy upon mine enemies, 

Mine ears have heard with joy of my wicked adversaries. 

The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree, 

They shall grow up like the cedars of Lebanon ; 

Planted in the house of the Lord, 

They shall flourish in the courts of our God. 

Even in old age they shall bring forth fruit ; 

They are green and full of sap ; 

To show that the Lord, my rock, is upright ; 

That there is no unrighteousness in him. 

—Noyes^s Translation of the Ninety-second Psalm. 

So also does a heart in this temper find spiritual refresh- 
ment in every aspect of nature as well as of grace. No 
eye was quicker than David's, no intellect at that time 
more perceptive, no tongue flowed more sweetly, no soul 
more impassioned with lofty sentiments, when all caught up 



A GENEROUS AND ADORING HEART. 



311 



the theme of the works of God, and the glorious attributes 
of God in them. 

The Twenty-ninth psalm undoubtedly describes the 
glory of God in the thunder-storm. If we give the poem 
both a geographic and poetic structure, we enhance its 
spiritual power. From his place on Mount Zion,. the 
poet-king had watched the coming storm rising over the 
Mediterranean ; driving with flashing lightnings against 
Lebanon and Hermon ; gradually wrapping the nearer 
north and the mountains of Ephraim in its thundering 
power; bursting in oriental tempest on Jerusalem, sweep- 
ing south-eastwards down the mountains, as flood and 
earthquake, to the wilderness of Kadesh.* Far higher 
than its high poetic beauty is the moral sublimity of its 
calm trust in that God who sits upon the flood and the 
sweet peace under his voice. 

A PSALM OF DAVID. 

Give unto Jehovah, O ye sons of God, 

Give unto Jehovah glory and strength : 

Give unto Jehovah the glory due unto his name, 

Worship Jehovah in the beauty of holiness. 

The voice of Jehovah {the thtinderer) is upon the waters, 

The God of glory thundereth : 

Jehovah is above the great waters. 

The voice of Jehovah is powerful ; 

The voice of Jehovah is full of majesty ; 

The voice of Jehovah breaketh the cedars. 

Yea, Jehovah breaketh the cedars of Lebanon,t 

He maketh them to skip like a calf. 



* " One ought to realize an oriental storm, especially in the 
mountainous regions of Palestine, which, accompanied by the 
terrific echoes of the encircling mountains, by torrents of rain 
like waterspouts, often scatters terror on man and beast, de- 
struction on cities and fields. Wilson, the traveler, describes 
such a tempest in the neighborhood of Baalbek: ' I was over- 

t " Alarge branch of one of the oldest trees of the cedar grove had recently 
been broken by the tempest, and in its fall, had partly destroyed a younger tree. 
There it lay before my eyes, amid the ruin it had caused, as if to show the power 
of the storm, and to illustrate the words of the Psalmist." — Porter-. 



312 



FORTY-FIRST SUNDA Y. 

Lebanon and Sirion {Hermon) s like a young unicorn {buffalo) ; 

The voice of Jehovah divideth the flames of fire {the lightnings) ; 

The voice of Jehovah shaketh the wilderness ; 

Jehovah shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh ; 

The voice of Jehovah maketh the hinds {for terror) to calve, 

And layeth bare the forests : 

And in his temple every one speaks of his glory. 

Jehovah sitteth upon the storm, 

Yea, Jehovah sitteth King for ever. 

Jehovah will give strength unto his people ; 

(" And now," says Hamilton, " the sun shines out again ") 

Jehovah will bless his people with peace.* 

Did David introduce or revive the use of the psalm 
ascribed to Moses ? If it had been in use by Levites in 
the service at Shiloh, or Nob, or Gibeon, he would cer- 
tainly have brought it forward into prominence in the 
enlarged service. If it simply existed amid the parch- 
ments of the Scribes, David would surely have known ot 
its existence, and the death of the aged — especially of the 
honored, ripe in years and wisdom, whose loss was uni- 
versally mourned — would suggest the introduction of that 
expression of human mortality and divine eternity which 
is instinct with the grandeur of Sinai and of Moses' life. 

A PRAYER OF MOSES, THE MAN OF GOD.t 
11 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations ; 

Before the mountains were brought forth, 

Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world. 

Even from everlasting to everlasting, 

Thou art God." 

Thou turnest man to destruction, 

And sayest, Return, ye children of men, 



taken by a storm, as if the flood-gates of heaven had burst ; it 
came on in a moment, and raged with a power which suggested 
the end of the world. Solemn darkness covered the earth ; the 
rain descended in torrents, and, sweeping down the mountain- 
side, became, by the fearful power of the storm, transmuted into 
thick clouds of fog.' " — Tholuck. 
* See also Psalm xcvii. 

t This psalm, by one writer, has been attributed to a younger Moses of 
David's time, but it is instinct with the very spirit of the great Lawgiver. 



A GENEROUS AND ADORING HEART. 313 

For a thousand years in thy sight 
Are but as yesterday when it is past. 
And as a watch in the night 
Thou earnest them away as a flood, etc. 

The tabernacle, now in a great city, as it had never 
been before, and associated with the palace of him who 
was both priest and king, was now subject to greater 
watchfulness and care. In Solomon's day, and probably 
in David's, there were porters and watchmen by night as 
well as by day.* For them there was a psalm, chanted 
by the sentinel as he looks up to the firmament, or pursues 
his solitary beat along the courts of Jehovah's house. 
One sentinel from one court may have answered to 
another, or one departing chanted to another coming at 
the relief of guard, or the psalm may have been employed 
in turn in each and all of these ways. And because there 
was a change or ascent in the watches of the night, or in 
the advance of the sentinel to take his place, it might 
have been called 

A PSALM OF STEPS OR DEGREES. 

The coming Temple-guard. 
Behold, bless ye the Lord, 
All ye servants of the Lord ; 

Which by night stand in the house of the Lord ; 
Lift up your hands to the sanctuary, 
And bless the Lord. 

O The retiring Temple-guard. 

The Lord that made heaven and earth, 
Bless thee out of Zion. 

— TJioluck^s Arrangement of Psalm exxxiv. 



* Compare 1 Chron. ix. 33 with 22. 



Jforfg-seamtr Swntmg. 



THE HEATHEN AND THEIR INSULT. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel x. ; i Chronicles xix. ; Psalms cxxi., cxxiv., cxx. 

SUCH a spirit as this in King David naturally diffused 
itself abroad through the nation. A Sabbath peace 
and love beamed like the gentle sun on this high level 
of the Hebrew kingdom. And the influence of such a 
spirit flowed naturally back also upon David, to elevate 
his zeal for God's worship and service. We may suppose, 
therefore, that here in the central period of his life the re- 
ligious institutions of Moses had their very best historical 
expression. The three great national festivals were there- 
fore celebrated in the full power of their meaning. The 
gathered throngs from every tribe in Israel filled the taber- 
nacle courts on Zion, and breathed the devotion with 
which the triumphant and happy choirs of David rendered 
to God the new songs of the royal singer. Could you 
as a Gentile have looked in from the outer court, you 
might have heard some such psalm as this : 

A SONG OF DEGREES OF DAVID. 

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills 
Whence cometh my help. 
My help cometh from the Lord, 
Which made heaven and earth. 
He will nut suffer thy foot to be moved. 
(314) 



THE HEATHEN AND THEIR INSULT. 



315 



He that keepeth thee will not slumber. 

Behold, he that keepeth Israel will not slumber nor sleep. 

The Lord is thy keeper. 

The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. 

The sun shall not smite thee by day, 

Nor the moon by night. 

The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. 

He shall preserve thy soul. 

The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in 

From this time forth for evermore. 

—Psalm cxxi. 

Or, as the victorious advance of the nation, and God's 
mighty power over past enemies, filled their adoring minds, 
this was their psalm : 

A SONG OF DEGREES OF DAVID. 

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, 

Now may Israel say, 

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, 

When men rose up against us, 

Then they had swallowed us up quick, 

When their wrath was kindled against us. 

Then the waters had overwhelmed us, 

The stream had gone over our soul, 

Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. 

Blessed be the Lord, 

Who hath not given us a prey to their teeth. 

Our soul is escaped 

As a bird out of the snare of the fowlers 

The snare is broken, 

And we are escaped. 

Our help is in the name of the Lord, 

Who made heaven and earth. 

— Psalm cxxiv. 

Caught up on the hearts of the multitudes, swelling high 
in chorus or simple harmony, touching tenderly, power- 
fully, every patriotic and religious instinct and memory, 
bearing their minds swiftly backwards into the past, all 
abroad through the present, into the future, the joyful 
strains were borne homeward by the retiring caravan- 
trains in every direction, to tribe, and town, and hamlet, 
till the ascent again to the next solemn festival fired anew 



3 16 FORTY-SECOND SUNDA Y. 

their songs, and poured their converging chants into the 
great praises of Jerusalem. 

Into this joyous and pious harmony of ruler and peo- 
ple and sanctuary now came a coarse affront, like a rude 
insult into a wedding feast. Full of lofty, generous spirit, 
forgetful that jealousy of his intentions could exist, David 
was touched by the death of a king who had showed him 
kindness in his days of trial. He said, " /will show kind- 
ness to his son." Fierce as had been David's battles with 
Moab, the Ammonites still existed as a kingdom. What 
the kindness was which Hanun's father showed to David, 
we do not know. The Ammonites, in their hostility to 
Saul, would have sympathized naturally with David. Na- 
hash himself defeated in battle by Saul at Jabesh-gilead, 
would have been in a temper to send aid and comfort to 
any outlaw who was powerful enough to disquiet King 
Saul.* 

Death touches every true heart with tenderness. And 
for the hour, the real spirit of the heathen tribes was en- 
tirely absent from his mind — a spirit of low grudging and 
suspicion everywhere. Forthwith he starts off his mes- 
sengers with words of sympathy, and very likely with cus- 
tomary presents, to King Hanun, the son. But no sooner 
is their approach known than King Hanun's attendants 
inflame his mind. " Comfort ! Honor to thy father ! 
The cunning dog ! He wants the city !" Hanun needs 
little to instigate his temper. He remembers David's 
treatment of Moab. He is young and buoyant and con- 
siders himself strong. The messengers of comfort are 
caught as if they were spies. They are gloried over with 



* " The Jewish traditions affirm that the kindness of Nahash 
consisted in his having afforded protection to David's brothers, 
who escaped alone when his family was massacred by the trai- 
torous King of Moab, and who found an asylum with Nahash," 

— Groie. 



THE HEATHEN AND THEIR INSULT. 



317 



every indignity to their persons and message, as if supe- 
rior sagacity had seen through their Hebrew plot. Their 
Oriental robes are cut off at the girdle, leaving them lite- 
rally half-naked ; and their long beard — that sacred part 
of the person — is shaved in half to make them still more 
ridiculous. The laughing-stock of the heathen, they are 
driven off with hooting and derision. Ashamed enough, 
they make their way back to Reuben's borders, the laugh- 
ing-stock of their brethren and their grief. Clothing their 
brethren can furnish, but not beards. The news runs 
faster than the messengers. King David is mightily 
aroused. It is a public insult to him, his nation, and his 
God. The very appearance of the men brings the nation 
into contempt. He sends word, •' Tarry at Jericho till 
your beards be grown." The sincerity and goodness of 
his intention make the mean suspicion far more base and 
sordid. The pious temper of his mind which his career 
has excited in him, both makes this heathen suspicion the 
more horrible, and inspires in him contempt for the con- 
temptible Ammonites. Their time will come ; God will 
avenge his own honor. 

But King Hanun is not at ease. He begins to see that 
his people have offered a low and cruel insult to a high- 
minded and powerful king. The very nobility of his na- 
ture and the rage of his people will sweep them all away ; 
and both are certain to be aroused. They make haste, 
therefore, to prepare, and their preparation proved the 
provocation which they should have avoided. They made 
an alliance of such proportions and with such tribes that 
David was compelled to take prompt notice of it. Mes- 
sengers with a thousand talents of silver were despatched 
to David's conquered vassals in the north. The Syrians of 
those parts — of Zobah, of Rehob, of Tob, and of Maacah 
— were enticed to break with the Hebrew king. The 
double lure of money and independence was too strong. 



3 1 8 FOR 1 ' V- SE COND S UN DA Y. 

Speedily they gather forces, and soon are pitched, thirty- 
three thousand strong, in the fields about Medeba. To 
Medeba — one of their impregnable cities, four miles south 
of Heshbon, and near the heights of Nebo — the Ammon- 
ites come in force. 

Here we may place another psalm, as if originally 
pointed at Hanun, and reduced afterwards to a " song of 
ascent." Just when his whole kingdom would be at peace 
with all the earth, war must be thrust in by these vile 
heathen ! The north and the south are confederate, 
threatening both treason and aggressive war ; David is taken 
back to his old distresses in the wilderness of Paran, where 
he dwelt among the fierce Bedouins of Amalek and Edom, 
and when he kindled his fires with the juniper-roots. Woe 
is it that he must still live among these northern and 
southern pagans.* 

In my distress, I cry unto the Lord, 
And he answereth me ! 

Lord, deliver me from lying lips, 
From the deceitful tongue. 
What profit to thee ! 

Or what advantage to thee is thy false tongue 

It is like the sharp arrows of the mighty ! 

Like coals of the juniper ! 

Alas for me, that I sojourn in Mesech, 

That I dwell in Kedar ! 

Too long have I dwelt 

With them that hate peace. 

1 am for peace, but when I speak for it, 
They are for war ! 

— Noyes's Translation. 



* Mesech was a son of Japheth, and stands for his descendants 
in the regions beyond the sources of the Euphrates (modern 
Caucasia). The Muscovites perhaps descend from Mesech. In 
the days of Ezekiel these people were slave-traders (Ezekiel 
xxvii. 13), With David, Mesech stands undoubtedly for the horde 
of northern savages and barbarians, while Kedar, who was a 
son of Ishmael, represents the Arabs. The juniper-root coal 
in that desert now makes the hottest kind of fire. 



THE HEATHEN AND THEIR INSULT. 319 

David loses no time. He sends at once the might of 
his army, headed by Joab. 

What the allied kingdoms intended to be their strength 
became their weakness. They divided their armies — the 
Syrians on this side, the Ammonites on that — to crush 
Joab between the mill-stones. Joab was too expert and 
too daring not to retaliate by conquering in detail. The 
strength of the young Hebrews he took for his own com- 
mand against the thirty-three thousand of the north, and 
the rest of the army he put under Abishai against the 
more familiar Ammonites. They were to support each 
other, as either might be hard pushed ; and under the ap- 
peal to right and to Jehovah, they rushed to battle. The 
Syrians gave way before assault. The Syrians' flight struck 
dismay to the Ammonites. They made good their retreat 
to their own city — probably the city of Rabbah — in which 
they were besieged the next year. This seemed to Joab 
sufficient for the present. The Ammonites were shut up 
to their old defences. It is probable the campaign season 
was over, for " at the return of the year " the siege was re- 
sumed. 

The fleeing Syrians did not, however, relinquish their 
hostility. They gathered the Syrians beyond the Euphrates, 
and proposed to recontest the ground at home on which 
the Hebrews had once subdued them. The once power- 
ful King Hadarezer, himself the head of kings, whose 
golden shields hung as trophies at Jerusalem, and whom 
David had driven beyond the river, sent his captain and 
army to the help of his countrymen of Zobah and Maacah. 

This is another matter much more formidable to David 
than the Ammonites. Hadarezer's success threatened his 
dominion from the whole east. King David, therefore, 
puts himself at the head of the grand army of the nation, 
and crossed the Jordan for the north. One decisive bat- 
tle was fought at Helam — probably not far from the Eu- 



320 FORTY- SECOND SUNDAY. 

phrates. It was a great battle of great armies, as is 
evident from the numbers slain. David came forth, 
as always up to this time, the master of victory in the 
name of God. Hadarezer's general, Shobach, was slain on 
the field ; four thousand cavalry were disabled or slain ; 
seven hundred chariots were taken, and all the vassal kings 
over whom Hadarezer sought eminence were effectually 
subdued. A wide awe and fear, deeper and stronger than 
before, fell on all those outlaying borders. Euphrates be- 
came a tide over which they dared not pass. 



Jfxrrtg-tljtrir Smtbag* 



PSALMS OF VICTORY AND PRAISE. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel xi. i ; i Chronicles xx. i ; Psalms xlvii., Ixxvi., Ixvi., lxxxi., c, xcvii. 

THE progress of the nation now under David has been 
one constant ascent of power. The nations on every 
side have felt the Hebrew authority and prowess. Although 
almost every tribe in turn rises up to shake it off, the 
Hebrew grasp is too firm to be unloosed. Amnion, still 
the strongest of them all, excites no fear. The God of 
battles goes before the Hebrew armies. Still David needs 
all his wisdom to keep those surrounding tribes subdued. 
In every one of them are forces which may bring trouble 
and destruction. The people have need to know that it 
is not the skill of man which has subjugated their enemies 
and kept them under the yoke, but the power of Jehovah. 
In advance of the thousands of Israel, a subtle, spiritual 
force from God has penetrated the hearts of those savage 
and revengeful foes. To Him, therefore, do we find 
directed psalms which recount His prowess and victory. 
They are addressed to that God of the Hebrews who 
claims His absolute right to all lands, and to the holy 
life of all the tribes of men who have fought for them. 
It is Jehovah, King of all the earth, who has asserted His 
authority. 

These triumphant psalms were written at times when 

(321) 



322 F0 & T Y ~ THIRD S UN DA Y. 

signal victories had been achieved or when the people had 
been summoned to victorious battle in the name of God, or 
at a time of the enjoyment of the wide results of success. 
In either case, this class of psalms had been accumulating 
up to this time in David's life. We may safely conclude 
that they had their place before the beginning of David's 
downfall. 

Here is one, the imagery in which seems to be taken 
from the king's outward march in confident expectation of 
victory, or from the king's exultant assault at the head of 
his column, or from the king's triumphant return to his city 
with the acclamations of victory. Or, still better, it may 
have been that when David himself returned from such a 
victorious expedition, amid clapping of hands from the 
crowds, and had " gone up with a shout " and a trumpet 
into the city of David, he found his people might make too 
much of himself; and by a true stroke of poetic genius, as 
spiritual as it was happy, transferred the object of exulta- 
tion from the human to the Divine King. 

TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN : A PSALM FOR THE SONS OF 
KORAH. 

O clap your hands, all ye people, 

Shout unto God, with the voice of triumph. 

For the Lord most high is terrible ; 

A great King over all the earth ! 

He shall subdue the people under us, 

And the nations under our feet. 

He shall choose our inheritance for us. 

The excellence of Jacob whom he loved. Selah. 

God is gone up with a shout ! 

The Lord with the sound of a trumpet ! 

Sing praises to God, sing praises ! 

Sing praises unto our King, sing praises ! 

For God is the king of all the earth. 

Sing ye praises with understanding ! 

God reigneth over the heathen ! 

God sitteth upon his holy throne ! 

The princes of the people are gathered together, 

The people of the God of Abraham ! 



PSALMS OF VICTORY AND PRAISE. 



323 



For the shields of the earth belong unto God ! 
He is greatly exalted ! 



— Psalm xlvii. 



We must bear in mind that David was to be the In- 
structor of his people, and that the mass of the people 
were on a lower level than himself. His pious impulses 
and inspired utterances in the psalms were designed to 
correct and confirm and guide them in respect to divine 
doctrines and right spiritual habits. The same purpose 
would have been served by the approval of psalms written 
by Asaph or Heman or others. Hence, after victory 
over the insulting king of Rabbah and the slaughtered 
confederates on the eastern highlands, such a psalm as 
this, recounting the security of God's abode, as the abode 
of his people : 

TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN ON STRINGED INSRUMENTS.* 
A psalm or song for Asaph or of Asaph. 
In Judah is God known : his name is great in Israel. 
In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place Zion. 
There break he the arrows of the bow, 
The shield and the sword and the battle ! Selah. 
Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey. 
The stout-hearted are spoiled : they have slept their sleep. 
And none of the men of might have found their hands. 
At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, 

Both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep. 
Thou, thou art to be feared ! 

And who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry. 
Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven. 
The earth feared and was still, 
When God arose to judgment, 
To save all the meek of the earth. Selah. 
Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee : 
The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. 

Vow and pray unto the Lord your God. 
Let all that be round about him bring presents 
Unto Him that ought to be feared ! 
He shall cut off the spirit of princes. 
Terrible to the kings of the earth ! 

— Psalm lxxvi. 



* The harp, psaltery or vial, sackbut, instrument of three strings and instru 
ent of ten strings. 



ment of ten strings. 



324 



FOR T Y- THIRD SUNDA Y. 



As Salem means Peace, if this psalm refers to the tri- 
umphs at Medeba and at Helam, then the use of Salem 
may be an allusion to his previous psalm, in which he 
says, " I am for peace, but when I speak first they are for 
war." 

In the same spirit is the Sixty-sixth psalm, but based on 
a longer view of the nation's history : 

Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands. 
Sing forth the honor of his name. 
Make his praise glorious. 

Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works. 

Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves 
unto thee. 

All the earth shall worship thee and shall sing unto thee. 

They shall sing unto thy name. 

Come and see the works of God, 

Terrible in his doing towards the children of men. 

He turned the sea into dry land. 

They went through the flood on foot. 

There did we rejoice in him. 

For thou, O God, hast proved us. 

Thou hast tried us as silver is tried. 

Thou broughtest us into the net. 

Thou laidst affliction upon our loins. 

Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads, 

We went through fire and through water, 

But thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. 

I will go unto thy house with burnt-offerings. 

I will pay thee my vows which my lips have uttered. 

And my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble. 

I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, 

With the incense of rams. 

I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah, etc. 

The Eighty-first psalm has the same historic retrospect, 
but is adapted evidently to a "new moon" or " feast day," 
and from the high standpoint of complete conquest, la- 
ments the previous faint-heartedness of Israel in respect 
to conquest : 

TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN UPON THE GITTITH. 
A psalm for Asaph or of Asaph. 
Sing aloud unto God our strength ! 
Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. 



PSALMS OF VICTORY AND PRAISE, 325 

Take a psalm and bring hither the timbrel, 

The pleasant harp with the psaltery. 

Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, 

In the time appointed, on our solemn feast-day. 

For this was a statute for Israel, 

A law of the God of Jacob. 

This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, 

When he went out thiough the land of Egypt : 

Where I heard a language which I understood not. 

I removed his shoulder from the burden : 
His hands were delivered from the pots. 
Thou calledst in trouble and I delivered thee ; 
I answered thee in the secret-place of thunder. 
I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah. 

Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, 

And Israel had walked in my ways ! 

I should soon have subdued their enemies, 

And turned my hand against their adversaries. 

The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him, etc. 

The spirit of triumph is not the only spirit in these 
triumphant psalms ; the spirit of commendation of Jeho- 
vah, the King and Deliverer, as worthy the admiration 
and praise and service of all the earth, breathes through 
them also. This is directly and intensely expressed in the 
One Hundredth psalm, entitled 

A PSALM OF PRAISE. 

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. 

Serve the Lord with gladness. 

Come before his presence with thanksgiving. 

Know ye that the Lord, he is God. 

It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. 

We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. 

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. 

Be thankful unto him and bless his name. 

For the Lord is good ; his mercy is everlasting ; 

And his truth endureth to all generations. 

In a loftier spirit than all these, is the tone of another 
class of psalms, which represent the majesty and righteous- 
ness of Jehovah, and the joy of God's people at the exe- 
cution of justice at last on the incorrigibly wicked. The 



326 FOR T Y- THIRD S UN DA Y. 

profound sympathy expressed with the noble stability of 
God's holiness and with the proper overthrow and destruc- 
tion of the persistively guilty, is like that thunderous joy 
of the mighty multitude over the fall of Apostate Babylon, 
when they cry, "Alleuia, for the Lord God omnipotent 
reigneth." 

The Lord reigneth ; let the earth rejoice, 

Let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. 

Clouds and darkness are round about him : 

Righteousness and judgment are the establishment of his throne. 

A fire goeth before him, 

And burneth up his enemies round about. 

His lightnings enlightened the world : 

The earth saw, and trembled. 

The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, 

At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. 

The heavens declare his righteousness, 

And all the people see his glory. 

Confounded be all they that serve graven images, 

That boast themselves of idols : 

Worship Him, all ye gods ! 

Zion heard, and was glad ; 

And the daughters of Judah rejoiced 

Because of thy judgments, O God. 

For thou, Lord, art high above all the earth, 

Thou art exalted far above all gods, etc. — Psalm xcvii.* 



* The Ninety-third and the Ninety-ninth psalms are similar, but neither of 
them so majestic and powerful. 



Jjjrig-fourfjj Smtirag. 



CRIME IN THE KING. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel xi. ; xii. 1-25 ; Psalms li., xxxii., and vi. 

WE now come to the crimes which have been for ever 
a stain on David's character. They introduced the 
decline of his power. From the very hour of his sin, step 
by step he goes down to trouble, calamity, weakness, to 
domestic distraction, civil faction, treason, and revolt. 
We shall see, however, that these very sins were the occa- 
sion which really tested the beautiful piety of a veritable 
man of God. 

When the campaign season came the next year, a strong 
army was despatched under Joab beyond Heshbon to 
Rabbah. The people felt the insult as well as the king ; 
and the nation was summoned. Alas for David that he 
did not command in person ! 

For his own purposes, God left him at home to be tempted 
to adultery. Forgetful of his position as acting priest and 
real leader of religion, forgetful of kingly office and kingly 
example, forgetful of his family — as all sin hastens to the 
forgetfulness of good — he yielded to the selfish passion. 
One horrible sin committed — a crime towards man, a ten- 
fold darker crime towards God — David was like every 
other deluded victim of Satanic craft. Temptations to 
other crimes to conceal the first were as quickly accepted 

(327) 



328 F0R T Y ~ F0 UR TH SUNDA Y. 

by that great man, as ever a little child quickly lied to 
hide a theft. The next thing he did was to prevaricate 
and play a base cunning with the brave soldier whom he 
had wronged, who was one of his thirty commanders, and 
who was just then avenging an insult to God and the king. 
What a miserable and withering revulsion at once took 
place in David's inward devotional life, as when a dry 
desert wind shrivels the outbursting life of a vineyard ! 
But as David failed in his low falsehood, his next plan was 
to murder Uriah by a formal order to Joab to expose him 
on the field. Next he adopted the spirit of indifference to 
right and wrong prevalent among oriental tyrants, and 
stopped at nothing to gain his end. He enticed Joab to 
wanton wickedness, and virtually, if he did not actually, as 
Josephus says, accused Uriah of crime. The next thing 
when the messenger came with the news, was the horrible 
pretence that Uriah's death was the fortune of war. Thus 
driven by fear of exposure — miserably planning to have 
his own child appear Uriah's child — before he was aware 
that he had lost his spirit of devotion, and did not know 
of it, he was a liar, a hypocrite, an adulterer, and a mur- 
derer. 

Probably he was not at times without a stern sense of 
wrong, but it is evident that concealment was still his 
delusion. For, whether his act of bringing Bathsheba 
home as his wife, after a short mourning, was an act of 
justice to her, as it is more charitable to suppose, or was 
a further part of his design to hide his sin from public 
view, he still continued without any adequate sense of 
wrong, even after the birth of the child, when Nathan 
came. We cannot have an adequate sense of David's 
guilt, without considering that for nearly a whole year — 
from his adultery to Nathan's rebuke — he had no real sense 
of the magnitude of his guilt — and that for nearly a whole 
year he was planning crime after crime to conceal his 



CRIME IN THE KING. 329 

guilt. It must have been nearly a month that he con- 
sumed in sending for Uriah, contriving with him, and 
sending him back to Joab with his own death-warrant in 
his hand. Some time must have been spent by Joab before 
the fitting opportunity occurred when Uriah could be ex- 
posed without indecent haste. Then, after the returning 
message reached the king, some months still of mourning 
passed. Then, after Bathsheba became his wife, it was 
not till after the child was born — probably not till some 
time after that — that Nathan appears. During all this 
time, a mind like David's could not have been utterly in- 
sensible to its wickedness. Neither will the historical ac- 
count permit us to think his heart keenly alive and stinging 
under the reproaches of conscience. The truth probably 
is, that his thoughts were now in tumults and agitations, 
now in a false calm and hard insensibility, now accusing 
him with terrible reproaches and deep agonies, now excus- 
ing him by paliating the character of Uriah's death, the 
honor which Bathsheba had attained, or by other blandish- 
ments so readily suggested in kingly courts. During all 
this time he kept up, no doubt, the outward show of piety 
at the tabernacle — now with a hollow, impenitent heart, 
now with a self-conscious guilt which seemed too great to 
be forgiven. He fancied his guilt was known to few. The 
messengers of his house did not know his purpose — no 
one knew his object in sending for Uriah. Joab could be 
trusted with the secret order. His marriage to Bathsheba 
might appear even an honorable provision for a noble 
warrior's widow. His sense of sin and shame began per- 
haps to wear off, and he was in danger of remaining a 
confirmed hypocrite — another royal murderer and liar 
before God and man. 

God had other plans. He saw with other eyes, and 
determined by terrible punishment to vindicate his own 
honor and his nation's purity. The real truth was, that 



33Q 



FOR T Y-FO UR TH S UNDA Y. 



David's crimes were known. There had been too many 
conversant with so long a course of sin for it to be kept 
secret. The shame and reproach of it were everywhere 
extending among the people. Everywhere the infidel and 
the impure caught up the miserable story with greedy 
satisfaction. Benjamite enemies and all the sensual heathen 
of the land, the profane and the idle, soon handed the 
shameful deeds, one after the other, with ridicule and leer- 
ing, from one low haunt to another — some of them repeat- 
ing with blasphemous exultation what the infidels ever 
since have been so ready to say, " Aha ! This is the man 
after God's own heart!" Religion and the church were 
wounded in the very heart of their life. Pious men hung 
their heads ; the priests blushed and grieved ; the nation 
itself was degraded by this hypocritical denial of law, this 
conspicuous, godless example of lawlessness and license. 
But while families see blasting and mildew on all neighborly 
and moral virtues, and good men see rottenness under- 
mining the church of God, David himself seemed wrapped 
in the very delusions of hypocrisy. If he repents at all, it 
is a repentance which reckons his crimes light, and to be 
pardoned for slight and private regrets. If he does not 
repent, his crimes are more appalling than King Saul's. 
How shall the king's self-disguise be broken. How shall 
he be made to see his appalling guilt ? God has his way. 
The king's friend, Nathan the prophet, comes to the 
palace. He has an important errand. The king bids him 
to the house-top. He follows Nathan's picture of the rich 
man and the poor man, depicting to his own lively mind, 
we may suppose, now this city, now that, as the place of 
the scene, as Nathan goes on, so lifelike is Nathan's story 
of Oriental greed and injustice. It was too much like 
Nabal, of Carmel, for David not to feel keenly its power. 
Had Nathan come to him immediately after- the commis- 
sion of his crimes, the king would have detected the proph- 



CRIME IN THE KING. 



331 



et's purpose ; but so long a time had elapsed that he was 
thrown off his guard, and cried in a righteous and passionate 
indignation, " As God lives, the man ought to die ! The 
poor man shall have the rich man's lambs fourfold ! 
Where is he ? Who is the man that did this ? " — a righte- 
ous outcry against the petty loss of a pet lamb ; the con- 
temptible injustice of some wretched lordling. Nathan 
turned back the king's sentence upon himself with lofty 
calmness and courageous eye. His form dilating with holy 
inspiration and outstretched gesture, we see him answer : 
" Thou art the man." What does God say to thee, 
Jehovah of Israel ? Hear his message ! " I anointed 
thee king ! I rescued thee from Saul ! I gave thee his 
royal family ! I united under thee the nation ! I estab- 
lished thee in royal wealth of wives and children in Hebron 
and Jerusalem! I gave thee awful forewarning of Saul's 
failure ! I had ready abundance to add to thee, that thou 
mightest reign in holiness in my holy house and before 
the nation ! And what hast thou done ? Thou hast murdered 
Uriah ! Thou hast committed adultery with his wife ! Thou 
hast lied to Joab and to the army ! Thou h&st played the 
hypocrite before the people ! Thou hast in everything 
despised me and left me ! Therefore, thy punishment shall 
be terrible, like thy sin. The sword of war shall strike 
through thine own house. It shall be struck by thine own 
house! Thy neighbor shall commit adultery with thy 
wives ! It shall not be secret, as thou hast planned crimes 
in secret. It shall be in light of this sun, proclaimed from 
this housetop. The nation shall know it ! " 

David is borne down beneath these crushing strokes. 
He has grace to break out in sobs of confession. " It is 
all true. It is all just. I have sinned against Jehovah. 
I know it. Privately I have tried to acknowledge it, but 
it is not enough. I confess it openly. I have robbed and 



332 FOR T Y-FO UR TH SUN DA Y. 

killed, and ruined men and all God's house. Let me die ! 
I deserve the sentence ! Have mere}', O God ! " 

There was in the thoroughness of David's confession 
the germ which would grow into all possible private and 
public reparation to man and to God ; and, therefore, 
Nathan was divinely moved to answer: "Jehovah puts 
aside thy sin. Thou deservedst not to live — thou shalt 
not die. But because by this deed thou hast given God's 
enemies great occasion to revile God and his worship, the 
child born shall certainly die." 

The prophet left him. And David, broken and crushed 
under the greatness of his sin, cries unto God. Although 
all the individual sins which he had committed were sins 
against man, yet his agony of confession is a confession ot 
sin against God. Alone in Jehovah's presence, the crim- 
son blush upon his face at the thought of God seeing him, 
his cry is, " Against thee, thee only, haved I sinned. Thou 
art just in thy sentence ! My soul is corrupt from my 
birth ! Purge me, wash me ! Hide thy face from my sins ! 
Blot them out, O God ! Create a clean heart in me ! 
Renew me ! Cast me not away ! Restore to me the joys 
of salvation ! Strengthen me ! I will yet teach transgres- 
sors thy ways, and they shall be converted ! O God ! 
deliver me from the guilt of blood, and my tongue will 
sing of thy righteous law and punishment. What are 
sacrifices to thee, O God ! or burfit-offerings — hypocrisy ! 
O God ! thy sacrifice is a broken spirit. O God ! do thou 
not despite my broken and contrite heart. Remember 
thy Zion ! Build her walls which I have broken down. 
Then will sacrifices and burnt-offerings and bullocks pro- 
claim again thy holy justice and saving mercy!" With 
such a tumult of broken agonies and petitions, David lays 
open his soul to God. With the confidence of one who 
has known a past union to God, he hopes for forgiveness. 
And with the honesty of real penitence, he at once sets 



CRIME IN THE KING. 333 

about the only reparation now in his power — a public 
acknowledgment of his wickedness before the nation. It 
is a little thing now, to him, to be sorry privately. He 
will be as careful of God's honor and purity as he would 
wish a subject to be towards himself, a King. In the 
very sanctuary on which he had poured such contempt, he 
will make public confession. Thither the tender-hearted 
penitent sends his written acknowledgment. Gathering 
up his own broken feeling, his approval of God's just 
sentence against him, his lowly petitions and hopes for 
forgiveness, he puts upon perpetual record against himself 
his bitter condemnation of his own sin. There, divinely 
directed to be the outpouring of all contrite hearts, over- 
taken by sin, in all generations, he sends 

TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN, A PSALM OF DAVID, 
When Nathan, the prophet, came unto him, after he had gone into Bathsheba. 

Have mercy upon me, O God ! 

According to thy loving-kindness, 

According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, 

Blot out my transgressions, 

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, 

And cleanse me from my sin. 

For I acknowledge my transgressions, 

And my sin is ever before me. 

Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, 

And done this evil in thy sight ; 

So that thou art just in thy sentence 

And upright in thyjudgment. 

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, 

And in sin did my mother conceive me. 

Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, 

And in the hidden part shalt thou make me to know wisdom. 

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. 

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 

Make me to hear joy and gladness, 

That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice ! 

Hide thy face from my sins, 

And blot out all my iniquities. 

Create in me a clean heart, O God ! 

And renew a right spirit within me ! 

Cast me not away from thy presence, 

And take not thy Holy Spirit from me ! 



334 F0R T Y ~ F0 UR TH s unda v. 

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, 
And uphold me with thy free spirit. 

Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, 

And sinners shall be converted unto thee. 

Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, 

O God ! the God of my salvation, 

And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 

O Lord ! open thou my lips ! 

And my mouth shall show forth thy praise ! 

For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. 

Thou delightest not in burnt-offerings. 

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit — 

A broken and a contrite heart, O God ! thou wilt not despise. 

In thy good pleasure, do good to Zion : 

Build thou the walls of Jerusalem, 

Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, 

With burnt-offering and whole burnt-offering : 

Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. 

Search all the history of kings, and find, if you can, 
another example like this of public confession of personal 
shame and cruelty by a king, in the height of his power ! 
Where is the example in Darius, or Cambyses, or Xerxes, 
or Alexander, or the Caesars, or the Napoleons, or the 
Henrys ? Yet this great warrior, king, poet, and priest, 
admired and loved by his people, with a thousand royal 
excuses for justifying or ignoring his sin, openly pro- 
claims the enormous wrong of his sin agai?ist God, and 
his deep mortification and sorrow before Jehovah. How 
god-like, honorable, and even beautiful is his acknowl- 
edgment and renunciation of personal guilt ! 

But this is not all. The child, for whom now a strong 
affection had sprung up in David's heart, is stricken with 
sickness. With the dawn of forgiveness for his sin arises 
the hope in David that God may spare the child's life. 
In his penitence and grief, therefore, he prayed and wept 
and fasted and lay on the ground all night, night after 
night, beseeching God for his child. His servants stood 
in awe of his woeful grief. He would eat nothing day 
after day. He would not be lifted up by the elders of 



CRIME IN THE KING. 335 

his house. There was more than love for the child ap- 
parent in his sorrow. A deep, sober grief for sin over- 
spread all his demeanor. Unutterable emotions of hu- 
miliation before God affected his soul, as he cried bit- 
terly for his infant son's life. The child died after six 
days. The servants feared that the king would actually do 
himself harm if they should tell him of it. When he 
himself perceived the truth, he accepted at once the will 
of God. He arose, washed himself, anointed himself, and 
changed his whole behavior, to signify his entire submis- 
sion to Jehovah's will. Forthwith he went openly to the 
house of God, appearing in humiliation, perhaps with the 
psalm which he had written — and with a sense of God's 
pardon. Then, with relief and with submission to God, 
he came back to his house and ordered meat to break 
his fast. His servants were astonished at his conduct. 
But the words which come from his lips have great power : 
" I submit to God. He has done right. I had hoped 
that he might so forgive that the child would live. But 
no ; I cannot bring him back. But since forgiveness is 
mine, I shall go to him, though he will not return to me." 
This is evident by the meaning of his words, which are 
more significant than at first appears. Beautiful exam- 
ple — the more beautiful because in a king's house — both 
of behavior under affliction and of assurance of God's 
forgiveness under severe chastisement for sin. In this 
humble and submissive state David regains the sense of 
God's favor ■ and out of his low depths rises into a sub- 
dued and happy confidence in God. Then, by blessed 
contrast with his former misery, he could set forth the 
joy of forgiveness to every sinner, in 

A PSALM OF DAVID, GIVING INSTRUCTION. 
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, 
Whose sin is pardoned ! 

Plcssed is the man to whom Jehovah imputeth not iniquity, 
And in whose spirit is no guile ! 



336 FOR T Y-FO UR TH SUNDA Y. 

While I kept silence (refused to confess) my bones were wasted, 

By reason of my groaning all the day long. 

For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me, 

My moisture dried up as in summer's drought. 

At length I acknowledged to thee my sin, 

And did not hide my iniquity. 

I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord, 

And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin ! 

Therefore shall every pious man pray to thee while thou may'st be found. 

Surely the floods of great waters shall not come near him. 

Thou art my hiding-place : thou preservest me from trouble : 

Thou compassest me about with songs of deliverance. 

I will instruct thee and show thee the way thou shouldst go : 
I will give thee counsel and keep mine eye upon thee : 
Be ye not like the horse or mule, which have no understanding ; 
Whose mouths must be pressed with the bridle and curb, 
Because they will not come near thee. 

The wicked hath many sorrows, 

But he that trusteth in the Lord is encompassed with mercies. 

Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, ye righteous, 

Shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart ! 

— Noyes's Translation. 

It could have been, however, no misery of an hour, 
which, alleviated by a confession and a psalm returned no 
more, which David felt. Though conscious of forgive- 
ness, his heart was so sensitive, his mind so clear, that 
more than once he went down into the tumultuous depths 
and cried in broken agonies to God. Such a time the 
Sixth psalm represents, dedicated afterwards, for some 
personal or musical reason, 

TO THE LEADER OF THE STRINGED INSTRUMENTS. 
On the Eighth. 
O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, 
Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure ! 
Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak ! 
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are vexed ! 
My soul is also sore vexed, 
But thou, O Lord, how long ! 
Return, O Lord ! deliver my soul. 

save me for thy mercies' sake, 

For in death there is no remembrance of thee. 
In the grave, who shall give thee thanks ! 

1 am weary with my groaning, 



CRIME IN THE KING. 337 

All the night make I my bed to swim, 
I water my couch with my tears ! 
Mine eye is consumed because of grief! 
It waxeth old because of all mine enemies. 

Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity, 

For the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping ! 

The Lord hath heard my supplication ; 

The Lord will receive my prayer. 

Let all my enemies be ashamed and sore vexed, 

Let them return and be ashamed suddenly. 

There can be no doubt of the pleasure which God took 
in David's true penitence. A sorrow so broken and sin- 
cere was a signal mark of David's true piety. There is 
no surer mark of a godless man than his refusal to make 
acknowledgment for sin. Bathsheba no doubt shared his 
sorrow, for God afterwards blessed them both. David 
took her tenderly as his wife. It was the only honorable 
course for him to pursue. God gave them, a few years 
later, a son,* whom David named the Peaceable (Solo- 
mon), whom it is supposed his mother called, Dedicated 
to God,f and whom the faithful prophet named Beloved 
of the Lord (Jedid-jah), or, perhaps, in allusion to David's 
own name, The Darling of the Lord. 



* Plumptre thinks Solomon, the child of David's old age, " the 
last born of all his sons." He says : " The narrative of 2 Sam- 
uel xii., gives, it is true, a different impression. On the other 
hand, the order of the names in 1 Chronicles iii. 5, is otherwise 
unaccountable. Josephus distinctly states it." But if born later 
than this time, he must have been younger than twenty years 
when he took the throne. 

f Lemuel, Proverbs xxxi. 1. 



Jurfg-fiftfj Sunbaj. 



THE CURSE OF SINS AT HOME. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel xii. 26-31 ; xiii. ; 1 Chronicles xx. 1-3 ; Psalms xxxviii., Ixix., xxviii. 

JOAB had meanwhile during the year ravaged the 
Ammonite territory, and the seige of Rabbah was 
sufficiently advanced to ensure success. The siege 
must have lasted nearly or quite two years long, and 
the fall of the city would be no mean glory for the 
kingdom. Like a true servant and general of his 
royal master, Joab sends for David to come and com- 
mand the final assault and surrender. With a good hu- 
mor which might easily pass into good earnest, he ral- 
lies the king ; " Now, therefore, come, take it, lest / take 
it, and it be called after my name."* It may be that, with 
that keen insight which was one of his marked character- 



* " 'The royal city' is the city with the exception of the acrop- 
olis, as verse twenty-seven clearly shows, where the captured city 
is called the water-city. 'The northern height is crowned by the 
castle, the ancient acropolis, which stands on the north-western 
side of the city and commands the whole city, {Burckhardt and 
Ritter.) After taking the water-city, Joab sent messengers to 
David to inform him of the result of the siege, and say to him, 
' Gather the rest of the people together and besiege the city (/. e., 
the acropolis); take it that I may not take the acropolis also and the 
glory of the conquest be given to me." — Keil and Delitzsch. 
(338) 



THE CURSE OF SINS AT HOME. 339 

istics, he foresaw the result of David's crimes. Joab was 
worldly wise, a politician and strategist in state affairs. 
And to ward off the inevitable effect of the king's weakness, 
he determined to make for the king an occasion. The 
pomp and glory of a really great victory should avert de- 
fection, and, so far as the civil administration was con- 
cerned, make his faults the mere incidents of a long and 
glorious campaign. At Joab's suggestion, therefore, the 
people were summoned. A multitude from the tribes go 
over, the king at the head, to swell the army. With what 
a heart did David himself go, probably to the very town 
where Uriah fell ? But the city of waters, under his 
orders and inspiration, was taken by storm. King Hanun 
is taken in his own city, from which he made David's mes- 
sengers of comfort the laughing-stock of his nation, in 
bitter and hateful violation of Oriental custom, and where 
he planned revolt and treason for David's provinces. 
Punishment for such offences was savage in those days of 
savage warfare. How many we do not know, but some — 
probably not a few — were cut with saws, harrows, and 
" made to pass through the brick kiln." Some form of 
torture was undoubtedly employed as punishment, as a 
tremendous revenge, a tremendous fulfilment of the divine 
orders against Amnion and Moab. Cruel and intense was 
the execution of that law which read, "An eye for an eye, 
and a tooth for a tooth." A fierce and bitter retaliation 
for a fierce and bitter insult, aggravated by sedition and 
treason. This was the oriental law. The very law of 
Moses was a law of retaliatory justice. King Nahash de- 
manded the savage exaction of the right eyes of all the in- 
habitants of Jabesh-Gilead. Their warfare was no doubt 
in that shameless and cruel spirit. David avenged 
them in the only way in which such monsters could be 
punished in his age, even under the Mosaic law. " Ac- 
cording to Josephus, the seige of Jabesh in Saul's day, was 



340 FORTY-FIFTH SUNDAY. 

but the climax of a long career of ferocity on the east of 
Jordan." With the fall of the royal city, all the cities fell. 
The jubilant army divided among themselves abundant 
spoil, and the army and people went in great triumph back 
to Jerusalem — David with King Hanim's golden crown,* 
and the people laden with treasures. 

However the prowess of David might keep alive his 
military power, the curse of his personal sins could not be 
shaken off. They lingered with deadliest influence in just 
the place where their power never should have been 
known. In his own home, outward pomp could not 
conceal the father's horrid example of license. The 
misery of his sin multiplied its miseries in the king's sons. 
Polygamy begins to show its evils. Better had he kept 
strictly to the constitutional restriction, " The king is not 
to multiply wives," and guarded his own household. The 
sons were left much to the discipline and care of their 
different mothers. The Ruler in affairs abroad was lenient 
at home. 

11 is firstborn son, born in Hebron when David was first 
proclaimed, and therefore dear to him, and now from 
twenty-two to twenty-four years of age, copies now his 
father's sins, and dies by his brother's hand, when merry 
with wine. Amnon had his own house, and, therefore, 
probably, his own wife, but is infatuated by a frantic pas- 
sion for his half-sister Tamar. Fatally advised by his 
cousin Jonadab — a " subtle man," " one of those charac- 
ters who, in the midst of great and royal families, pride 



* The one word rendered " their king's crown " may be ren- 
dered Malcham's crown, the crown of the Ammonite god. The 
weight of a talent was nearly or quite a hundred pounds — too 
heavy for the strongest man's head. The Hebrew traditions has 
it as Malcham's or Moloch's crown and that Ithai the Gittite tore it 
off and brought it to David. 



THE CURSE OF SINS A T HOME. 



341 



themselves and are renowned for being acquainted with 
the secrets of the whole circle in which they move "* — ■ 
his miserable self-will released from self-control by his 
father's horrible example, he ensnares Tamar, commits 
adultery with her against her will, and then with brutal 
hatred, drives her from his house. f 

Tamar — the palm-tree — stands forth in the narrative in 
the beauty and integrity of her character. Daughter of 
Maacha, King of Geshur, as she was, she was of noble and 
pure mind. She held the crime a dishonor to Israel as 
well as to herself, which none but a fool would commit. 
She saw, probably, the shame would be the more oppro- 
brious on account of her father's sin. She made at once 
an outcry, though Amnon was the king's first-born ; she 
tore her royal robes, the symbol of her lineage and of her 
virginity ; with ashes, she laid her hand on her head, and 
went on crying. Her brother Absalom received her into 
his own house, learned the story, bid her hold her peace, 
and himself maintained a terrible silence. 

The king was enraged, but he did not punish Amnon, 
the Septuagint says, because he loved him as his first-born, 
although the crime was by law a capital offence. But how 
could he punish him ? He was compelled to feel the mis- 
ery of his own crime, and the painful inconsistency of 
punishing with death his oldest son and of letting him- 
self go free when guilty of an equal and similar capital 
offence. 

But Absalom considered himself, as he was, the natural 
avenger of his own sister's rights. He watched his opportu- 



* Stanley. 

T " When thy father cometh to see thee," verse five. ,; An in- 
cidental proof of David's known affection and kindness to his 
children— in spite of the demoralizing influence of polygamy." — 
' y'j Commentary. 



342 



FORTY-FIFTH SUN DA Y. 



nity. For two years he brooded over it, and planned how 
to punish the criminal. It would seem as if he at once 
openly declared that he would kill Amnon, for Jonadab 
afterwards said, " By the month of Absalom (see margin) 
this hath been determined from the day," etc. And if he 
made the threat to him but once, Amnon would naturally 
be wary of his handsome and wilful brother. But Absalom 
was subtle as well as Jonadab ; and he found means to 
outwit Amnon, and to get him into his power. He 
planned at sheep-shearing a family festival on his estate at 
Baal-hazor, a town either in Benjamin, near the boundary 
of the tribe of Kphraim, or a town near the town of Ephraim, 
now unknown. He invited, first of all, the king and his 
victim ; well knowing, perhaps, that the king could not or 
would not go. As the king declined, he begged the honor 
of Amnon, the prince-royal. It may be the king discerned 
danger — for he did not let Amnon go without his four 
brothers, thinking them, no doubt, a protection. And 
Amnon, thrown off his guard by the appearance of a family 
festival to which the king had been invited, thinking the 
invitation to himself as perhaps an indication that Absalom 
wished now to forget the past and be friendly, and knowing 
that Chileab, Adonijah, Shephatiah, and Ithream would 
be there, accepted the invitation in all simplicity. He 
entered freely into the hospitalities of his brother. Wine 
flowed freely. It was for him in special honor, as first- 
born, and he grew as merry as his treacherous brother 
would have him. Absalom was no man to fear venture. 
Quite likely, we may judge from his subsequent life, he 
thought it a good thing to have the heir-apparent out of the 
way, for was not he himself a prince by descent from 
mother as well as by father ? His order to his servants, 
then, was to strike sure and quick when the wine was in. 

Dismay and horror seized the princes, who, like the peo- 
ple, evidently thought the death of all planned ; for at 



THE CURSE OF SINS A T HOME. 343 

once the rumor came to Jerusalem that Absalom had mur- 
dered all the king's sons. The alert Jonadab, however, 
assures his uncle, the king, that only Amnon has fallen for 
his crime against Tamar — an assurance quickly confirmed 
by the watchman's announcement of the princes' approach. 
Mourning filled the palace over the first-born's death — a 
death which providentially made the way to the throne for 
the infant Solomon. 

Absalom, although he might have had a shadow of right 
on his side, dared not brave the storm at Jerusalem. He 
fled to Geshur, to his grandfather, King Talmai, where 
he could gain a ready sympathy as the avenger of Maacha's 
daughter's shame. There, very likely, in the impenetrable 
defences of the Argob, he concealed himself, not ventur- 
ing for three years to take one step towards Jerusalem. As 
the sharp edge of David's grief over his first-born wore off, 
and he saw, as he must have done, that Absalom had at 
least a plausible plea for his act, his heart relented. But 
he could not bring him home. 

The iron had already entered David's soul, sharp and 
deep. God's retribution was on him. His own sins had 
produced their just fruit at home. His fair Tamar was 
dishonored. His first-born, the prince-royal, was dead — ■ 
justly dead, for crime in imitation of his father. His 
beautiful Absalom was little better than a murderer, treach- 
erous and malicious — alas ! with sufficient provocation 
and legal sanction to justify his offence. His whole family 
were thrown into distraction, hatred, and woe. God was 
turning his own sins, like a heavy flood of fire, back upon 
his own heart. 

The keenest anguish filled his soul at the renewed sense 
of his own guilt. His enemies everywhere had new occa- 
sion for leer and low triumph. His own friends were over- 
powered anew at this new result of the king's crimes ; and 
his perception was too quick not to see that now the 



344 FORTY-FIFTH SUNDA Y. 

crimes of his children also were weakening the kingdom. 
Tossed anew by these miseries, perhaps from a sick-bed 
to which his cares and agitations have driven him, he cries 
out in penitence to God, in 

A PSALM OF DAVID TO BRING TO REMEMBRANCE. 

Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath, 
Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure ; 
For thine arrows stick fast in me, 

And thy hand presseth me sore. 

There is no soundness in my flesh 

Because of thy anger : 

Neither is there rest in my bones 

Because of my sin. 

For mine iniquities are gone over mine head ; 

As an heavy burden tn*ey are too heavy for me. 

My wounds stink, and are corrupt 

Because of my folly. 

1 am troubled ; I am bowed down greatly. 
I go mourning all the day long ; 

For my loins are filled with burning, 

And there is no soundness in my flesh. 

I am feeble and sore broken. 

I have roared by reason of the disquietude of my heart. 

Lord, all my desire is before thee, 

And my groaning is not hid from thee. 

My heart panteth ; my strength faileth me: 

As for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me. 

My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my stroke, 

And my kinsmen stand afar off. 



Thou wilt hear, O Lord my God, 

For I said, Hear me, 

Lest otherwise they should rejoice over me ! 

Lest when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me. 

For I am ready to halt, 

And my sorrow is continually before me ; 

For I declare my iniquity, 

I am sorry for my sin. 

Forsake me not, O Lord. 

O my God, be not far from me. 

Make haste to help me, 

O Lord, my salvation. 

— Psalm xxxviii. 

Pitiful are the expressions of some of the other psalms, 



THE CURSE OF SINS AT HOME. 



345 



which are nowhere more appropriate than when assigned 
to this time of trouble — those pitiful exclamations which 
remind us of suffering Job in his troubles ; such as in the 
Sixty-ninth psalm, in which he not only utters his anguish, 
but appeals to God that he has tried to set His honor right 
in the holy places. 

Save me, O God, for the waters are come unto my souL 

I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing. 

I am come into deep waters where the floods overflow me. 

I am weary of my crying ; 

My throat is dried ; my eyes fail, 

While I wait for my end. 



God, thou knowest my foolishness, 
And my sins are not hid from thee. 

Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord of lords, 

Ee ashamed for my sake. 

Let not them that seek thee, O God of Israel, 

Be confounded for my sake : 

Because for thy sake, I have borne reproach. 

Shame hath covered my face. 

1 am become a stranger unto my brethren, 
And an alien to my mother's children. 

For the zeal ol thine house hath eaten me up, 
And the reproaches of them that reproached thee, fell on me. 
When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting 
That was to my reproach. 
. I made sackcloth also my garment 
And I became a proverb to them. 
They that sit in the gate speak against me, 
And I was the song of the drunkards. 

Thou hast known my reproach and my shame and my dishonor. 
Mine adversaries are all before thee. 
Reproach hath broken my heart, 
And I am full of heaviness, 
And I looked for some to take pity- 
But there was none, 
And for comforters, 
But I found none. 
They gave me also gall for my meat, 
And in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink, etc., etc. 

Or, as in the Twenty-eighth psalm : 

Unto thee will I cry, O Lord, my rock. 

Be not silent to me, lest if thou be silent to me, 

I become like them that go down into the pit, etc. 



$axt$-mfy Sunimjj* 



CONSPIRACY BY ABSALOM. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel xiv. ; xv. 1-12 ; xix. 10 ; Psalms xxxix., cxxxix., xl. 

ABSALOM", in self-exile in Geshur, must have been at 
least twenty-five years of age, David himself being 
from fifty-eight to sixty years old. He was remarkably 
handsome in form and feature, with luxuriant hair and a 
full, soft, luxuriant beard, his father's features, graceful and 
agile like his father, sagacious and daring, and with the 
very charm of personal address. He was universally ad- 
mired. He was probably the heir-apparent to the throne ; 
for he was the third son of David, the first of whom, Am- 
non, was dead, and the second of whom, Chileab or Daniel,* 



* David had at least twenty-one children. We read onl)-of four 
— Solomon and Adonijah, Shimei and Rei, who were living in 
his old age. There were probably others. But in so large a 
family some must have died besides those who died by vio- 
lence. To make the picture of domestic life complete, we must 
imagine an oriental funeral occasion, in which the mourning is 
so much more public than with us — with loud cries or scream- 
ing by the wives or the hired mourners, with rending of gar- 
ments, with songs of lamentation, with sack-cloth worn by some 
or by all the members of the family, with the body embalmed 
and borne on a bier with august procession and wailing, to the 
place of burial in the city of David. The Thirty-ninth psalm may 
v have been written when David's heart was bruised Avith such a 
(346) 



CONSPIRA CY BY ABSALOM. 347 

was probably dead, since neither at this time nor when 
Adonijah afterwards aimed at the throne, is he mentioned. 
He had his own house and home at Jerusalem, with his wife 
and two or three children ; for about three years later he 
had had three sons and one daughter. The daughter, a 
beautiful child, the affectionate brother named for his fair 
sister Tamar, who was, no doubt, still dwelling in his fam- 
ily. In the full vigor of his beauty and manhood, Absa- 
lom stood ready to make use of his royal opportunities to 
secure his personal fortune. His very protection and re- 
venge of his sister Tamar would have many admirers, and 
few would deny that the villainous Amnon had met his 
just fate. 

If Chileab was dead, there is a special reason why 
David should have set his heart on Absalom's return. 
Now that the deed was done, the handsome, sagacious, 
active young prince was the actual heir to the throne. 
David might have come to think better of Absalom's 



grief — perhaps for Chileab, whose name signifies in Hebrew like 
his father — and when he could hardly believe that God wottla 
take from him a lovely and promising child. 
I said, I will take heed to my ways. 



I was dumb with silence, I held my peace even from good, 
And my sorrow was stirred. 

Lord, make me to know mine end, 

And the measure of my days, what it is, 

That I may know how frail I am. 

Behold thou hast made my days as a handbreadth, 

And my age is as nothing before thee ; 

Verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity. 

I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, 

Because thou didst it. 

When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, 

Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth ; 

Surely every man is vanity. 

O spare me that I may recover strength 
Before I go hence to be no more. 



348 FOR T Y- SIXTH SUN DA Y. 

revenge than he did at first. At any rate, in the desala- 
tion of his afflictions, he yearned to have him home again 
under his own care rather than familiarized with the rough 
heathen life of the Geshurites. And yet he wavers, as 
if swayed by an ocean-tide. How could he bring himself 
to summon home and give kingly protection against the 
blood-avenger, to one who had taken his brother's life, 
the life of the first-born, the prince-royal. Terrible as Am- 
non's offence was, to protect Absalom might be to protect 
malice which aimed at his brother's inheritance. 

Joab perceived what was the real desire of the king's 
heart. He saw quite likely in Absalom's succession a 
way in which to protect himself from punishment as a 
murderer, and from David's fearful curses on him. He 
devised a way to meet both his own wish and the king's 
desire. He sent for a wise woman at Tekoa, six miles 
beyond Bethlehem, a place from which the warrior Ira 
came. Ira may have given his commander information of 
this woman, or Joab, ever watchful for persons for public 
use, may have observed her and her reputation. When 
she came, he instructed her in this manner : " Here is 
Absalom. He has killed the heir-apparent. He is now 
himself heir-apparent, and himself exposed to the blood- 
avenger. The king is in a personal dilemma. One of 
his sons has slain another of his sons. Grief overpowers 
him for the loss, and justice seems to him to require the 
death of the offending son also. There is danger of 
internal and exterminating feud in the royal house if Absa- 
lom come home without the king's express authority ; 
and danger of complication, faction, and endless trouble 
if he stay away. Both public security and the king's peace 
of heart require that Absalom be brought openly home, 
his revenge of Tamar tacitly accepted, and he set forth as 
the king's restored son before the nation." Such is evi- 
dently Joab's view of the situation, and he constructs for 



CONSPIRACY BY ABSALOM. 



349 



the woman a parable which embodies these facts. Expert 
in speech and wit and prudence, the woman goes to the 
king as a widow with a story of two sons, one of whom 
has killed the other, and the survivor of whom is in danger 
of being slain by the blood-avenger, so that her family 
shall be extinguished. When the king, touched by the 
widow's weeds and the pitiful story, has yielded the gen- 
eral principal that such a case ought surely to be an 
exception to the law of blood-revenge, she immediately 
presses boldly and delicately the instance of the king's 
sons, and his obligation to protect and "bring home his 
banished." She even presses on him his inconsistency. 
By an ingenious and subtle twining of the imaginary story 
and the actual facts, she holds the king now to the pitiful 
case of the two sons and now to his own two sons, as she 
watches his varying mood. The king at once detects the 
true actor behind the parable, and says, gravely : " Is not 
this Joab's device ?" But his sagacity saw in it the proof 
of Joab's intense devotion to his house and of his practical 
judgment in public affairs. 

The woman is dismissed. Joab is sent for. " I have 
done" this thing," David says. " Go bring the young man 
Absalom." Joab evidently considered a delicate point in 
the public policy gained. He thanked the king, and con- 
gratulated himself on his success. To give power and 
significance to Absalom's return, as the king intended, 
and as if assuming before the people the responsibility him- 
self, he sets off in person to Geshur. In the name of the 
king, he brings Absalom home to the capital. But the king 
cannot yet see his son. He has had his eyes opened to 
the greatness of the crime of murder, and he is not sure 
what was Absalom's intention in the crime. He will sig- 
nify the greatness of his personal displeasure at the offence 
even while he gives public protection to the offender. So 
great is his jealousy of truth and right, that for two full 



3 5 O FOR T V- SIX TH S UNDA Y. 

years Absalom watches in vain for an audience with the 
king. He is evidently offended that he is suspected and 
not received into full favor. " Better be in Geshur than 
here !" At length he sends for Joab. Joab, thinking that 
the father and son will make their way to each other, takes 
no notice of Absalom's first nor second summons. Offended 
and enraged, Absalom compels Joab to attend. He can 
play at artifice as well as Joab. He sends off orders to 
his servants on his estate to set Joab's barley-field afire. 
Then Joab comes promptly enough to complain of Absa- 
lom's servants. But Absalom let him know quickly that 
it is a device to secure his presence. " Why did you bring 
me home from Geshur ? If I am to be suspected and 
shut out, better to be in Geshur still. Bring me to the 
king. Tell him, if I deserve death, I am willing to die." 
Joab at once puts the matter properly before the king. 
And when David knew Absalom's attitude of mind, he 
sent for him. Absalom abases himself, and the king gives 
him the kiss of reconciliation. 

We might think that there was a certain honesty in 
Absalom's mind up to this point, were it not that soon after, 
by open hypocrisy, he began to mature a conspiracy against 
his father, and were it not that the culmination of his con- 
spiracy is by means of an awful falsehood, amounting to 
both perjury and plasphemy. This falsehood runs back to 
a resolve taken at Geshur more than two years before. 
We have seen that Absalom was capable of self-control, 
and could hold self-contained a deliberate, well-formed pur- 
pose for two full years against Amnon. That he held a 
secret purpose against his father's government, nourishing 
and revolving it till the time should come to strike, 
seems evident from his reference to his vow in Geshur. 
Just as he goes to Hebron to raise the standard of revo- 
lution against his own father, he can say in a hideous hy- 
pocrisy, " I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow in Hebron, 



CONSPIRA CY BY ABSALOM. 3 5 r 

which I have vowed unto Jehovah. For thy servant vowed 
a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, If Jeho- 
vah shall bring me again to Jerusalem, then I will serve 
Jehovah." If there be here a reference to a purpose 
formed at Geshur to seize the throne, the bitter hypocriti- 
cal irony of these words reveals a malice consistent with 
his cruel wickedness afterwards. 

The secret spring which was the fountain of conspiracy 
in Absalom's heart was undoubtedly, first of all, his in- 
ordinate conceit of himself. This conceit the flattery of 
the people inflamed. The old man was in his dotage ! He 
would reenact his father's early life, and prove the hero ! 
The success of his punishment of Amnon, its plausible 
justification, and his successful escape, exalted still more 
his importance in his own eyes, while the cover of the 
blood-revenge concealed from the people his deep satisfac- 
tion that Amnon was dead, if it did not conceal a jealousy 
which prompted the crime. His own wild independence, 
indulged at home probably as Adonijah was indulged, would 
be intensified by his two years in Geshur. The aspiration of 
the king's wives for their sons — Bathsheba for Solomon, 
Haggith for Adonijah, Maacah for Absalom — may have 
fired him. His father's refusal to see him was misinter- 
. preted. It irritated and alienated him from the king and 
from Joab till his secret purpose was fixed. And thus the 
stream was full-formed which rushed on to the precipice. 

There can be no doubt, too, that King David, absorbed 
by overwhelming afflictions and a sense of deserved punish- 
ment, was abstracted from public affairs. He was con- 
scious, too, of a weakened hold on the nation, and did not 
meet the people with the same self-confidence as formerly. 
This Absalom saw. He took advantage of it. He pro- 
fessed a willingness to die for his crime, but he knew it 
was too late now for the king to execute him. He wanted 
the kiss of reconciliation, and he no sooner gained it than 



352 



FOR T Y- SIX TH S UN DA Y. 



he began to plot. He prepared himself a retinue of 
chariots and riders and attendants, and boldly assumed a 
degree of pomp before the nation — such a pomp as no one 
but the heir-expectant could assume. He took advantage 
of the king's laxness — personal attention to persons in con- 
troversy being a feature of Oriental rule — and stood by the 
king's gate, at once complimenting the city and tribe from 
which every complainant came, and complaining himself of 
the king's injustice in neglecting the injured and oppressed. 
He insinuated his own deep desire for justice. If he had 
only had power to decide and administer. And a kiss from 
the handsome, graceful prince was always ready for leaders 
who would do him reverence.* So he fairly stole the 
hearts of the people. 

At length the period of forty years from David's anoint- 
ment by Samuel is ended, and the hypocrite and con- 
spirator deems it time to strike. He cloaks his treason 
under the pretence of devotion to God. Like some hypo- 
crites, he may have been deluded into the belief that his 
wickedness was devotion to God. He professes a vow 
to God made in Geshur — a vow indeed ! a profane oath 
that he would himself be king in Hebron as his father had 
been. The king gave his blessing to him and to his vow. 
But Absalom's spies were abroad through the tribes notify-, 
ing the trusted that his trumpet of coronation would soon 
sound. He had a strong hold on the people, for when the 
trumpeters stationed in the tribes sounded, the people re- 
sponded. Two hundred men from Jerusalem were be- 
guiled into the plot, and induced to go to Hebron with 
the prince to pay his vow ! He succeeded in carrying 
with him, by artifice and policy, even David's privy 



* " It was by conduct of this kind that Agamemnon is said to 
have secured the command of the Grecian army." — Keil and 

Dditzsch. 



CON SP IRA CY BY ABSALOM. 353 

counsellor, whose advice was an oracle. Ahithophel, the 
counsellor, was sacrificing in Giloh, just south of Hebron. 
When summoned, and when he saw how the tide was run- 
ning with the prince, he made the miserable mistake of 
casting in his fortunes with Absalom ; or possibly disaf- 
fected from David for his weaknesses, he had retired from 
court life to his private home. And there at Hebron, his 
own birthplace, which the traditionary memories of his 
father filled with enthusiasm, in a tribe flattered at the 
thought of a second king, among a people gathered from 
the tribes, like the assembly which crowned David, the 
beautiful young prince, enrobed in the splendor of Oriental 
dress, and false at heart as any Oriental conspirator, was 
anointed and crowned king of Israel. The people shouted, 
and sent abroad the cry from Ziklag to Geshur, " King 
Absalom reigneth in Hebron." 

If David's attention had heen instinct at the time with 
public more than with personal affairs, he would at once 
have discovered the extent and progress of the conspiracy. 
But it is reasonable to suppose that he was lying sore- 
broken by die blows of God's righteous rebukes and 
punishment. We may believe that his spirit was tenderly 
alive to the divine honor and to the quality of his Own re- 
pentance before God, and seeking rather to avert impend- 
ing judgments in this way than by the powers of his right 
arm. While, therefore, Absalom was plotting in Jerusalem 
and committing treason in Hebron, we may suppose the 
king occupied with such thoughts as these : 

TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN : A PSALM OF DAVID. 

O Lord, thou hast searched me and know me. 
Thou knowest my down sitting and uprising. 
Thou understandest my thought afar off. 
Thou compassest my path, and my lying down, 
And art acquainted with all my ways. 



Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, 



354 



FORTY-SIXTH SUNDA Y. 

Or whither shall I flee from thy presence ? 
If I ascend up to heaven, thou art there, etc. 

Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God ! 
Depart from me, therefore, ye bloody men. 

Search me, O God, and know my heart. 
Try me and know my thoughts. 
And see if there be any wicked way in me. 
And lead me in the way everlasting. 

— Psalm cxxxix. 

TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN : A PSALM OF DAVID. 

I waited patiently for the Lord, 

And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 

He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, 

And set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. 

I have preached righteousness in the great congregation. 

Lo ! I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. 

I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart. 

I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation. 

I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth 

From the great congregation, etc. 

— Psalm xl. 



$axt%-stbtnfy Srabaji* 



THE KING'S ESCAPE. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel xv. 13-37 ; xvi. 1-15 ; Psalms vii., iii., Ixiii., iv. 

THE king only needed his attention aroused. A mes- 
senger announced the conspiracy and its public suc- 
cess. Once awake, his quickened mind took in the situa- 
tion. Absalom ! Hebron ! Judah ! The tribes ! He 
saw at a glance Absalom's arts, his perfidy, his attractions 
of beauty, pomp, and display ; his own neglect of Absa- 
lom's temper, the defection of the people from their guilty 
king, the sword of God's predicted punishment. The 
thrones of all early Oriental empires, as well as the terri- 
ble slaughters of the northern Hebrew kingdom after 
Solomon, tell us what David expected from a wilful and 
treacherous son. No parley would be admitted by such 
a temper as Absalom's. What would be the fate of even 
the impregnable Jerusalem, when God had bidden the 
sword of his own house strike ! Flight would save the 
city from siege and blood, and might gain delay till the 
infatuation of the people should pass by, or until God 
would show his own will. 

The king's word went out, " We must leave the city !" 
to which there was a large and quick response. We may 
assume that, in the capital itself, the sincerity and nobility 

(355) 



356 FOR T Y-SE VEX TH S UXDA Y. 

of David's repentance were better appreciated than in 
more distant parts of the land. A loyal people in the 
city answered the word of loyal officers, and resolved to 
share the fate of the royal household. Forthwith at the 
departure of the king's family, the army and people throng 
forth from the gates down over the Kidron valley. The 
Septuagint says that David stood under an olive-tree.* 
There he took in a quick review of the people and army, 
their forces and their affection, as they hastened past : he 
sharing their peril, as they shared his calamity. 

The plan of flight seems to have designed two things. 
One was to put the Jordan chasm between him and his 
pursuers. He could not venture on his old retreats in the 
south. The other was, to put himself among the tribes 
least affected by Absalom, and which had also been re- 
cently delivered by himself from the Ammonites. The 
critical thing was to reach the rocky descent to Jericho, 
past dangers from the Bethlehem and Hebron road. 

Six incidents occur now in rapid succession, which, like 
such incidents in hours and days of revolution, are signifi- 
cant of the temper of the people, and of the ability and 
disposition of their ruler. They give us especially evi- 
dence .of the quickness, the wit, the sagacity of David's 
mind when sharpened to action in an emergency. One 
after the other he turns events to his own use, or leaves 
them untouched by a wise abstinence. 

The first incident has to do with his " old guard." As 
the people, with their outcries of lamentation, and the 
officers, and the Cherethites and Pelethites, pass by, his 
faithful six hundred come up. These we suppose to be a 
regiment whom David had honored from the time when 



* " Tarried in a place that was far off," verse 17. The Hebrew 
maybe rendered " at the far-house" — perhaps the last suburban 
house before crossing the Kidron. 



THE KINGS ESCAPE. 357 

the six hundred with him left the service of King Achish 
of Gath, rescued Ziklag, and went up to his first corona- 
tion at Hebron. They were his original army, the original 
number kept full, and the " band " honored for their de- 
votion to the king. Either because their fortunes became 
fully identified first with David's when he was at Gath or 
in subjection to Gath, or because a good number of them 
came from Gath itself, they were called Gittites. Their 
present leader was Ittai, who was not one of the original 
band, and was himself a proselyte. He had had, there- 
fore, only the experience of prosperity, and knew nothing 
of adversity with David. This, we suppose, was what struck 
David's mind when he saw Ittai and the old six hundred 
approach, and thought that the days of future adversity 
might be as great and as numerous as the days of past 
adversity. Forthwith he thrust in a test to try the devo- 
tion of Ittai. " Why go with us ? Go back to King 
Absalom. You have been here but a little time. Why 
take the risks with us ? Take back your company, and 
serve the new king. My blessing shall be with thee." But 
the loyal Ittai endured the test. " Thy life or death, O 
King, shall be life or death to me. Where thou art, there 
am I." A noble devotion in a Philistine proselyte, and 
a noble proof of David's personal magnetism over a 
"stranger" and an "exile." ct Pass on — hasten the 
march," said the king ; and the next time we meet Ittai, 
it is as one of the three division-commanders of the army. 
The next incident springs out of the appearance of the 
priests and Levites. Zadok and Abiathar, the high-priests, 
with the Levites in service at Jerusalem, come down the 
slope, bringing the ark. They set down the ark, and the 
same Abiathar who, nearly forty years before, fled from 
Nob to Keilah, bringing the ephod, stood and watched till 
the last, of the people had passed out the gate. They would 
have the ark sanction the Anointed of God and protect 



358 FOR T Y- SE VEN Til S UN DA Y. 

his true subjects. A beautiful endorsement is this of 
David's penitence ! " Cany back the ark," is David's 
order to them so soon as he discovers their purpose. " I 
shall come back to the ark if God wills ; and, if not, let 
him do what seemeth him good. If God wills my return, 
what is the Seer's office but to discern the interest of the 
kingdom? And the high -priest's sons can carry me 
word. I will wait your word in the wilderness of Jericho." 
Nothing breaks David's spirit more than separation from 
the ark and God's worship. While Levites and priests 
and ark go back, the people and king with bitter cries 
climb Olivet, the king with head and face covered and 
feet sandalless, the king in tears, the people in tears, at 
the abandonment of the beautiful city and sacred taber- 
nacle, made glorious for a quarter of a century under 
God's warrior, poet, and priest. 

A third incident breaks in upon their grief. " Ahitho- 
phel is among the conspirators !" Ahithophel — acquainted 
with David's private counsels and the nation's affairs — 
clear-headed and strong ; a tower of strength to Absa- 
lom, wisdom for his folly, and stability for his fickleness — 
a solid cause of alarm to David. If Ahithophel was the 
grandfather of Bathsheba, as there is some reason for 
supposing,* David's crimes may have been the occasion 
of his defection from the king. He may have foreseen 
the inevitable decay of the nation after hypocrisy and 
crime so gross as that of David. And his desertion to Ab- 
salom was a sure proof that to his prudent mind the re- 
bellion is strong. Ahithophel ! brother of foolishness / 
" If he can be baffled, Absalom is as good as routed, and 
the head of the conspiracy cut of."f But what can Da- 
vid do ? Nothing but pray to God, and watch to outdo 
his strategy. " O Lord, turn the counsel of this Brother 



'• Compare xi. 3 with xxiii. 34. -j- Henry. 



THE KINGS ESCAPE. 



359 



of Foolishness into foolishness !" is the deep outcry of 
David's heart to God. It seems as if while he was speak- 
ing he was answered in the opportunity to outvie Ahitho- 
phel's advice. For in the next verse we read that David, 
when he came to the top of the hill, worshipped ; and 
while he prayed or prostrated himself in bitterness and 
agony of soul before God, the fourth important incident 
occurred. 

The "king's friend," Hushai, with robe rent and earth 
on his head, met him. David is quick to see what Hushai 
can do, as a trusty and prudent man. " With your tender 
heart you will be nothing but a burden to me in the wil- 
derness. Go make yourself Absalom's servant. Tell 
him you are his friend, as you have been his father's 
friend, and defeat by all means the counsels of Ahitho- 
phel. Zadok and Abiathar are there. Tell them your 
messages. Jonathan and Ahimaaz will bring me word." 
He will put a counselor against Absalom's counselor, and 
will commend him to God and to his priests. 

The fifth incident is that, over the top of Olivet, Ziba, 
the well-known servant of Saul's grandson, comes up. He 
has saddled asses for the king's family, bread-cakes, dried 
grapes, fruits, and a skin of wine, figs, dates, etc. David's 
first question seeks out Saul's descendant and his attitude 
in the revolution. " What is the meaning of this ?" The 
answer is, that these things are not at all the present of 
Mephibosheth, but of Ziba himself. " And where is Me- 
phibosheth ?" " At Jerusalem," says the ingratiating and 
lying servant. " He says Saul's kingdom will be restored." 
Plausible indeed it seems. "Thine is all that is Mephibo- 
sheth's," said the too hasty king, as he pushed on. " I 
humbly thank thee," said the fawning hypocrite. Cheap 
indeed to buy Mephibosheth's estate with a present of 
Mephibosheth's asses and fruits ! 

One incident more — the sixth — occurs in this turbulent 



360 FORTY-SE VENTH SUN DA Y. 

and crowded day, as he goes over the rough ridges at the 
top of the Jericho road. Another person of Saul's house — 
a real and bitter Benjamite — is on the watch for him — one 
of those men who never relinquish a petty party or clan 
feeling even if their opponent has turned night into day 
for the universal good. This is Shimei, son of Gera,* who 
strides along high on the opposite ridge to show himself a 
bitter zealot for Saul's fortunes, a snarling cynic against 
David's successes. He has heard of David's downfall, and 
his time has come ; but he takes care to keep the other 
side of the gorge. Out he comes, exulting, cursing, revil- 
ing, with slang and fierce abuse. " Aha ! thou bloody 
man, thou son of the devil. Aha ! the blood of Saul's sons 
is on thee ! Thou bloody man, Uriah's blood is on thee ! 
Out with you ! Out on you ! Down now ! Go down ! 
I knew it. The Lord is against thee. Aha ! thine own 
son will take the kingdom from thee. Taken in thy mis- 
chief at last, thou son of Belial and man of blood !" He 
runs along the crest opposite, just out of reach, flinging 
stones and dust with his curses at the king's party. 
Abkhai, with the spirit of his mother, asks nothing bet- 
ter than to go over and take off his head. But David 
estimates the fellow and his curses at their worth. He 
will not honor him by giving any one occasion to say, 
Shimei was right, for David shed Shimei's blood. " Be- 
sides, if God permits my own son to seek my life, he may 
have good ends in this Benjamite's curses. Let him tell 
my faults. I will suffer all God's will for his own sake." 

And so the king, and his mighty men and all his people, 
press down the narrow and tortuous road, out of the reach 
of Absalom. It has been a long and weary day. At last, 



* Gera was an ancient name at the head of old families in 
Benjamin. (See 1 Chronicles viii. 3 ; Genesis xlvi. 21 ; Judges 
iii. 15.) 



THE KING S E SCAPE. 3 6 j 

at the foot of the steep hills, they are where they can de- 
fend themselves for the night, and at the first alarm put 
the Jordan behind them. They are in the upper end of 
the "wilderness of Judah," as it extends upwards from the 
Salt Sea along the Jordan. Here the fleeing king is in the 
upper end of that same desolate wilderness, the lower parts 
of which he so well knew as a fugitive from Saul. They 
are not far from an easy ford of the river. Here they set 
up their camp, and station their trusty men at the narrow 
approaches. 

The incidents of David's flight show in striking relief the 
versatility, sagacity, and generosity of David's mind. 

As to Ittai, he made sure of his devotion. As to Zadok 
and Abiathar, he put them where they could modify Absa- 
lom's government, if it had proved God's will that Absa- 
lom should succeed, and where they could help himself, if 
God's will required his restoration. As to Ahithophel, he 
has commended his counsels to God's overruling mind. 
With respect to Hushai, he has bidden him be Absa- 
lom's true friend should Absalom prevail, and Ahithophel's 
antagonist to test the Lord's disposition of his Anointed. 
We must remember, in respect of David's advice to Hu- 
shai, that David in either alternative did not look at all for 
the death of Absalom, and in either event was seeking the 
true interest of Absalom. As to Ziba, the treachery of 
Mephibosheth, if real, of itself confiscated his estate. And 
as to Shimei,David's magnanimity is the magnanimity in the 
cave and the night-encampment against Saul. It is the 
quick-witted David still driven anew by persecution and 
affliction. The result will show how wise w T ere his dispo- 
sitions for the true interest of God's earthly kingdom. 

What a tossing sea of conflicting thoughts filled the 
king's mind in his tent that night ! The first thing to be 
settled is, how wide does the disaffection extend ? How 
far has Absalom charmed the people, and how much 



362 FOR T Y-SE VENTH SUNDA Y. 

secret disaffection is there, ready to burst out enraged, 
like the wrath of Shimei ? How far do the tribes of Ben- 
jamin and Ephraim hold himself guilty of slaying Saul's 
house, and how far are they ready to avenge the fancied 
crime by making joint cause with Absalom ? Shimei's 
bloody words overwhelm him with horror. He is innocent 
of the crimes he charges, or forgiven of God. He would 
have been a savage, black at heart like Shimei, to have 
slain the house of God's anointed. If we consider that 
the " Cush the Benjamite," mentioned in the title to the 
Seventh psalm, is Shimei, called the Cushite or Ethiopian, 
on account of his treachery and godless affront to the Lord's 
anointed, we may consider the Seventh psalm as the ex- 
pression of David's mind that night on the plains of Jordan. 

A SONG OF DAVID WHICH HE SANG UNTO THE LORD CON 
CERNING THE WORDS OF CUSH THE BENJAMITE. 

O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust : 

Save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me ; 

Lest he tear my soul like a lion, 

Rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver. 

O Lord my God, if I have done this ; 

If there be iniquity in my hands : 

If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me 

(Yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy) ; 

Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it ; 

Yea. let him tread down my life upon the earth. 

And lay my honor in the dust. 



The Lord shall judge the people : 

Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, 

And according to mine integrity that is in me. 

Oh ! let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end ; 

But establish the just : 

For the righteous God trieth the heart and reins. 

His mischief shall return upon his own head, 

And his violent dealing shall come down on his own pate 

I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness, 
And will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high. 



These we may suppose the thoughts of David in that 



THE KINGS ESCAPE. 363 

private hour which he was accustomed to have with God 
before his sleep, composing himself under God's protec- 
tion. But the morning brings the same conflicts, as he 
still waits to hear from Zadok and Abiathar. If Benjamin 
and Ephraim are ready to revenge Saul, how far will Judah, 
for kindred's sake, follow the false son of the tribe? In 
this mind, the king breathes in prayer to God 

A PSALM OF DAVID WHEN HE FLED FROM ABSALOM 
HIS SON. 
Lord, how are they increased that trouble me ! 
Many are they that rise up against me. 
Many there be which say of my soul, 
" There is no help for him in God !" 

But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me ; 
My glory, and the lifter up of my head. 
I cried unto the Lord with my voice, 
And he heard me out of his holy hill. 

I laid me down and slept ; 
I awaked ; for the Lord sustained me. 
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, 
That have set themselves against me round about. 

Arise, O Lord ! Save me, O my God ! 
For thou hast smitten {hitherto) all my enemies upon the cheek-bone ; 
Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. 
Salvation belongeth unto the Lord : 
Thy blessing is upon thy people ! — Psalm iii. 

Many are the events which transpire in a single day at 
such a time. A few minutes seem an hour. The heart 
is turbulent with feeling ; during the suspense, expectation 
and excitement prolong the day. Little incidents seem to 
decide now this way, now that. Had not bad advisers 
helped his son, no trouble could have arisen. To calm 
his own heart and to derive strength from his divine helper, 
as we may suppose, David composed his turbulent thoughts 
into the substance of that psalm afterwards known as 

U A PSALM OF DAVID WHEN HE WAS IN THE WILDERNESS 
OF JUDAH." 

O God, thou art my God : Early will I seek thee. 
My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee, 



364 F0R T Y ~ SE VENTH SUNDA Y. 

In a dry and thirsty land, where no water is, 

To see thy power and glory, 

As I have seen thee in the sanctuary. 

Because thy loving-kindness is better than life, 

My lips shall praise thee. 

Thus will I bless thee while I live. 

I will lift up my hands in thy name, 

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, 

And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. 

When I remember thee upon my bed, 

I meditate on thee in the night-watches. 

Because thou hast been my help, 

Therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. 

My soul followcth hard after thee, 

Thy right hand upholdeth me. 

But those that seek my soul to destroy it, 

Shall go down into the lower parts of the earth. 

They shall fall by the sword. 

They shall be a portion for jackals, 

But the king shall rejoice in God. 

Every one that sweareth by him shall glory. 

But the mouth of liars shall be stopped. — Psalm lxiii. 

How naturally the Fourth psalm, as a psalm at night, fol- 
lows the Third, which we have placed in the morning. 
For at night, probably in the night, they broke up the 
cam]), hastened across the Jordan, and not till the later 
watches were encamped again on the other side. The cry 
of need and the cry of trust, exclamations of defence and 
exhortations to trust, alternate here and show the same 
conflict of feeling which pervades the two preceding psalms. 

TO THE LEADER OF MUSIC : WITH STRINGED INSTRUMENTS. 
A Psalm of David. 
Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness. 
Thou hast made room for me in my straits. 
Have mercy on me and hear my prayer. 

O ye son of men, how long will you turn my majesty into shame ? 
How long will you love vanity and seek falsehood ? 
But know that the Lord hath chosen his holy one. 
The Lord will hear when I call upon him. 
Stand in awe, and sin not. 

Commune with your own hearts upon your bed, 
And be still. 

Offer righteous sacrifices, 
And put your trust in the Lord ! 



THE KINGS ESCAPE. ^6$ 

There are many that say, " Who will show us any good ?" 

Lord, lift thou the light of thy countenance upon us : 

Thou hast put gladness in my heart. 

Greater than theirs when their corn and wine have increased. 

I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, 

For thou only, O Lord, makest me dwell in safety. 

Happy king, bruised and mellowed by affliction, who, 
harp in hand, can thus charm away his own distress, by 
seeking the comforting presence of his God ! 



Jwtij-H#!j Stmimg, 



THE REBELLION AND THE REBELS. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel xvi. 15-23 ; xvii., xviii. ; Psalms xlii., xliii., lxiv., xvii., xli., lv. 

THE rebellion tinder Absalom probably lasted two or 
three months. For there was time for Absalom to 
gather and organize a great army from all the tribes. 
There was time for David to number and grade and 
officer his broken followers, and to put them under 
division commanders. There was time to transfer Absa- 
lom's army across the Jordan, and for the two armies to 
pitch in camp in the land of Gilead. Let us look at the 
details of policy and of warfare on either side. 

Hardly are David and his army well down the Jericho 
road before the triumphant line of Absalom comes cours- 
ing into Jerusalem ; some thousands of footmen, gathering 
numbers as they come, headed by the handsome prince 
and his leading men on mules, with trumpets sounding 
the new reign, and with Ahithophel to crown the revolu- 
tion with power and eclat. 

Hushai and Zadok and Abiathar are there in Jerusalem 
to meet them. Jonathan and Ahimaaz are outside the 
gate in the Kidron valley at Enrogel, so that no hindrance 
may block their way to David. Hushai at once puts him- 
self in position to support whomsoever God appoints 
king. He can say in all sincerity, " God save the king ! 
(366) 



THE REBELLION AND THE REBELS. 367 

God save the king !" for it is David's wish and will, as 
his own, that, whether father or son, God's Anointed may 
rule. And he inspires Absalom's confidence in his honest 
adherence to the fortunes of the royal house. He is 
immediately called to meet Ahithophel. 

Ahithophel advises two things, both thoroughly wise 
according to the wisdom of an unscrupulous worldly pol- 
icy : the first to make an irreconcilable breach between the 
old government and the new ; second, to overwhelm with a 
sudden destruction the royal house. His counsel is, there- 
fore, first, that Absalom, after the manner of Oriental 
kings, take to himself the king's wives left in Jerusalem, 
and that by tent-life on the house-top he so openly enter the 
harem that the people will see that father and son can 
never be one again ; and, secondly, that with twelve thou- 
sand select warriors, he push on after David and crush him 
at a blow, before he has time to rally. " Strike David only, 
and the whole people will come back to thee !" The first 
recommendation Absalom at once accepts. He sees that 
it will compel his supporters to an irreconcilable hostility 
to David. He, therefore, fulfills Nathan's prediction to 
David : that adultery shall punish adultery in his own 
house. The second recommendation he sets aside for 
Hushai's advice; for Hushai's magniloquent advice ap- 
peals to his own vanity. There is something magnificent 
in deliberately gathering the whole nation and going out 
in pomp to overpower the old warrior in his flight. But 
this policy Ahithophel saw to be fatal. He well knew 
that all that David needed was time. Chagrined, therefore, 
to find his years and authority and wisdom put aside at the 
start by the petty vanity of this upstart prince, foreseeing 
David's certain success over the weakness of Absalom, 
over whom he himself would hold no stable power, find- 
ing too, perhaps, that he had misinterpreted the strength 
of attachment to Jerusalem in David, mortified that he 



3 68 F0R T J T -EIGH TH S UNDA Y. 

had, by his own counsel to Absalom, put himself beyond 
the hope of restoration to David's favor for this weak and 
silly conspiracy, he mounted his mule, pushed back to 
Hebron, on to Giloh, gave directions to his house, and 
hung himself. 

Hushai, however, without waiting to see the result of 
the counsel on Absalom's mind, and fearing Ahithophel's 
advice, at once communicates to Zadok and Abiathar the 
two opposite lines of policy advised, and bids them to 
lose no time in telling David. They inform Jonathan 
and Ahimaaz outside at Enrogel. They hasten over the 
hill toward Jericho, but are suspected and followed. At 
Bahurim, where Shimei lived/" they hide in a well or run- 
ning fountain, on the mouth of which a woman spreads 
her pounded grits. She tells her pursuers who inquire 
for the two young men, with wit and a double-tongue, 
" They have gone over the brook of water," meaning the 
well, but which the pursuers understood to mean the Jor- 
dan, or a ravine towards Jericho. David gets the message 
— his haste has been none too great — and by morning 
light he and his people are safe across the Jordan. All 
this may have happened on the same day on which David 
left Jerusalem, but it may have been after a day had 
intervened. 

There is leisure now for him to proceed to Ish-bosheth's 
old capital. David's summary punishment of Ish-bosheth's 
murderers and his tender treatment of Mephibosheth had 
long since knit that town to him. 

Once there, the princely men of the adjacent towns 
sent him abundant supplies. The servants and families 
and retainers of Shobi f of Rabbah ; and of Machir of 



* " They were not all Shimeis at Bahurim !" 

f Very likely appointed tributary governor of Rabbah. 



THE REBELLION AND THE REBELS. 369 

Lodebar, from whose house David had taken Mephibos- 
heth ; and of Barzillai of Rogelim, came with loads of 
good things for the unfortunate king. It was no forced 
act of fear. The}'- said, " The people are in the wilder- 
ness, hungry, thirsty, and weary;" and sheep, honey, beans ? 
lentiles, wheat and barley, flour, butter, cheese, and roasted 
wheat, mats and quilts, cups and pots and earthenware 
come plentifully in to supply their wants. It is a touch- 
ing return of kindness to a kind-hearted king. 

During the two or three months spent here — in the 
midst of these steep ravines and deep forests outside the 
town and among Ish-bosheth's old adherents within the 
city — several psalms also must have been written. For 
there are psalms which express the condition of a matured 
worship in Jerusalem, and which are written evidently 
when David was driven from the tabernacle ; and this is 
the only time when he was driven away, after both the 
kingdom and the worship were established. The Forty- 
second and Forty-third are such psalms. There are other 
psalms which appeal to God for the defence of the right, 
to defeat the wicked usurpers and to use his power to 
promote a fear of God. The Sixty-fourth and Seventeenth 
are such psalms. There are other psalms which lament 
with profound disappointment the treachery and apostasy 
of familiar friends, such a treachery as he has just now 
discovered in his own people of Hebron, such a painful 
apostasy as he now found in Ahithophel. Such psalms 
are the Forty-first and Fifty-fifth. We must suppose that 
a spirit so keenly sensitive as David's, was during this 
time full of alternations of feeling, now despondent and 
now hopeful. We shall find him, however, always return- 
ing in some form to the expression of his trust in God. 

Shut out from the sanctuary which he had built, from 
the services in which God had satisfied his want, lamenting 
over his son's wickedness and over his own iniquities, and 



3 yo FOR T Y-EIGHTH S UNDA Y. 

tormented by the taunts of the infidels and the abandoned, 
he breathes in his chamber at Mahanaim, the very soul 
of poetry and of pity in that psalm which, so long as the 
world shall last, penetrates and comforts the heart of the 
despondent.* 

As the hart panteth after the water-brook, 
So panteth my soul after thee, O God. 
My soul thirsteth for God, the living God. 
When shall I come and appear before God ? 

My tears have been my meat day and night, 
While they say to me continually, M Where is thy God ?" 
When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in woe ; 
For I went with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, 
With the voice of joy and praise, 
With a multitude that kept holyday. 
Why art thou cast down, O my soul, 
And why art thou disquieted in me ? 
Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, 
For the help of his countenance. 

my God, my soul is cast down within me 

While I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites, 

From the little hill. 

Deep calleth unto deep : as the noise of thy cataracts.t 

All thy waves and billows have gone over me ; 

Yet the Lord will command his loving-kindness in the day-time, 

And in the night his song shall be with me, 

My prayer unto the God of my life. 

1 will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me ? 
Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy ! 
As with a sword in my hands, mine enemies reproach me, 
While they say daily unto me, "Where is thy God ? " 

Why art thou cast down, O my soul, etc. —Psalm xlii. 

These thoughts, so powerful and so tender, pulsate 
through his whole being. They are, for the time, like his 



* We know that David at this time longed for the sanctuary, 

because when Zadok and the Levites brought the ark with them 

ready to flee with David, David said, " Carry back the ark of 

God into the city. If I shall find favor in the eyes of the Lord, 

he will bring me again and show me both it and his habitation." 

See 2 Samuel xv. 25. 

t The poetical reference may be to the storm-torrents down the steep wady 
on which Mahanaim was situated. 



THE REBELLION AND THE REBELS. 37 j. 

life-blood. He cannot throw them off. The cruel ingrati- 
tude of the nation, and cruel deceit of the powerful 
Ahithophel — without whom Absalom would have been a 
mere child — fills him with acute pain. But God is a 
reality to him, and to him he appeals. 

Judge me, O God, and plead my cause 

Against an unmerciful nation. 

O deliver me from a man of deceit and iniquity, 

For thou art the God of my strength. 

Why dost thou cast me off? 

Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy ? 

O send out thy light and thy truth : 

Let them lead me : let them bring me 

Unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles ; 

Then will I go unto the altar of God ; 

Unto God, the gladness of my joy. 

Yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, 

O God, my God. 

Why art thou cast down, O my soul, etc. — Psalm xliii. 

David probably did not know at this time the miserable 
death of Ahithophel, but he must have been brooding over 
what Jonathan and Ahimaaz had told him of Ahithophel's 
plots in Jerusalem, and praying for Hushai's success, when 
he cried, — 

Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer ; 

Preserve my life from fear of the enemy. 

Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked ; 

From the insurrection of the workers of iniquity, 

Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, 

And bend their bows to shoot their arrows, bitter words, 

That they may shoot in secret at the upright. 

Suddenly do they shoot at him, and do not fear. 

They encourage themselves in evil speech ; 

They commune to hide snares ; 

They say, " Who shall see them ? 

But God shall shoot at them. 
Suddenly shall they be wounded. 

And all men shall fear, 

And shall declare the work of God. 

And all the upright in heart shall glory. —Psalm Lxiv. 



372 FORTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY. 

In the same spirit is this " Prayer of David " : 

Hear the right, O Lord : attend unto my cry ; 

Give ear unto my prayer that goeth not out of lips of deceit. 

Let my sentence (the sentence of a judge in the impending controversy) come 

forth from thy presence. 
Let thine eyes behold the things that are equal, etc. — Psalm xvii. 

Read now the Forty-first psalm ; consider it written 
when tossed by this same tumult of soul, excited and 
distracted even unto sickness after his calamities; or con- 
sider it as referring to some recent occasion when he had 
been seriously sick in Jerusalem, and how wonderfully is 
it apposite to this time. 

" Elessed is he that considereth the weak (or the sick) ; 
The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. 

The Lord will strengthen him on a bed of languishing. 
Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. 
I said, Lord, be merciful unto me, 
Heal my soul ! for I have sinned against thee ; 
Mine enemies speak evil of me : 
41 When shall he die and his name perish ? " 

" An evil disease cleaveth fast unto him ; 
And now that he lieth, he shall rise up no more." 
Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, 
Who did cat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me, etc. 

Even more desolate is the Fifty-fifth psalm : 

Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues, 

For I have seen violence and strife in the city ; 

Day and night they go about upon its walls, 

Mischief and sorrow are in the midst of it. 

Wickedness is in the midst thereof; 

Deceit and guile depart not from her streets. 

For it was not an enemy that reproached me ; 

Then I could have borne it. 

Neither was it he that hated me, 

That did magnify himself against me. 

Then I would have hid myself from him ; 

But it was thou, a man mine equal (or according to my rank). 

My guide and mine acquaintance. 

We took sweet counsel together, 

And walked unto the house of God in company. 



THE REBELLIOX AXD THE REBELS. 



373 



The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, 

But war was in his heart. 

His words were softer than oil ; 

Yet were they drawn swords. 

Cast thy burden on the Lord, He shall sustain thee. 

He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved ; 

But thou, O God, shall bring tkem down into the pit of destruction. 

Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days ; 

But I will trust in thee. 

Here during this time in Mahanaim, the king set him- 
self to the reorganization of his army into companies 
and regiments, and into three divisions under Joab and 
Abishai and Ittai the Gittite. Probably these energetic 
men do the real work. 

Absalom gathered the army of the tribes — a large army 
— for there were slain afterwards twenty thousand. From 
the facts that the battle which was fought was near Maha- 
naim (" that thou succor us out of the city"), and, there- 
fore, on the east side of Jordan, and that the forest is 
called the forest of Ephraim, a tribe all whose possessions 
were west of the Jordan, it has been conjectured that the 
forest was so called from the battle itself, and from the 
numbers of the Ephraimites in Absalom's army. Whether 
this be so or not, it is otherwise probable that the power- 
ful tribe of Ephraim constituted a large part of Absalom's 
strength. At any rate, a great army ascended the Jericho 
road, crossed the Jordan fords, pitched in Gilead high up 
from the Jordan gorge, and now come to battle in the 
forest. 

David is ready to go to the battle at the head of his 
divisions, but his devoted people earnestly remonstrate on 
the value of his life, and compel him to stay with the 
reserve. With a solemn charge to his commanders and 
to the people to be tender to Absalom personally — think- 
ing doubtless that Absalom's faults were the results of his 
own neglect — he reviewed the army at the gate, and sent 
it to battle. 



3 74 F0R T Y-EIGHTH S UNDA Y. 

The rough country compelled scattered and widespread 
fighting. Many were destroyed by the tangled woods, 
ravines, and precipices. And Absalom himself was caught 
by the head in the oak branches. Joab caught at the 
news brought him. He upbraided the man that saw the 
prince hanging for not killing him on the spot. Although 
he had restored Absalom to favor, he evidently counted 
his conspiracy a weak attempt at the throne. " The trai- 
tor ! The hypocrite ! Why did you not kill him !" He 
had no sympathy with the king towards his atrocious son. 
By every law the wretch ought to die ! By every dictate 
of policy the sooner the better ! With his body-guard he 
hunted out the place. He fell upon Absalom and des- 
patched him, blew the trumpet for halt and return, and 
in the presence of the people cast the ignominious body 
into a pit, and heaped a great pile of stones upon it. 
The people, astounded at his fierceness and boldness, 
fled from the spot to their tents, as if fearful the king 
would detect them each one in the slaughter. Joab was 
no man to play at war. He saw the stern necessity of 
Absalom's death. He was ready to strike the moment 
he could do so, and sagacity and fierceness were, in his 
eyes, the virtues of the Lord's avenger. 

Ahimaaz, who had brought the news from Hushai, was 
present, and wished to carry this news to David. Joab 
preferred a blunter Cushite or Ethiopian slave, but after he 
had gone, he permitted Ahimaaz to follow. Ahimaaz either 
knew the country better than the Ethiopian or could run 
faster, and was, therefore, first spied by David's watchman 
at the gate of Mahanaim ; but he had no heart to tell 
David more than that victory was his. The king evident- 
ly suspected the truth, and put Ahimaaz aside for the 
more blunt Cushite. A single sentence from him broke 
the fearful tidings. 

The king was overpowered. What a terrible review of 



THE REBELLION AND THE REBELS. 375 

his past life swept through his soul ! His beautiful child ! 
His neglect of his wilful temper! His own example! 
And his crimes before his family and the nation ! Amnon 
and Tamar ! Absalom's murder ! and restoration ! and re- 
bellion ! Nathan's prediction of the sword ! The terrible 
chastisements of his own house ! His Absalom ! The 
beautiful, corrupt, and treacherous instrument of punish- 
ment, lost forever in his own sins ! With the very ecstasy 
of anguish, he cried, as he walked the chamber over the 
gate, " O my son Absalom ! my son, my son Absalom ! 
would God I had died for thee ! O Absalom, my son, 
my son !" 



JfarfB-nintlj jswnbag. 



TUMULT AND RESTORATION. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel xix. 1-23, 31-40; Psalm cxliii. 

I^HE armies were thrown into a tumult of excitement by 
. the horrid death of the handsome Absalom. David's 
army was horrified by Joab's savage disobedience, as well 
as by Absalom's awful end. Absalom's army was panic- 
stricken by the sudden ruin of Absalom's kingdom, and a 
punishment threatening them like that from a bear robbed 
of her whelps. 

In David's army, there was a worse demoralization in 
progress than that arising from horror. There was a justice 
in Absalom's death palpable to the common sense of all. 
But the king on whom they expected to lean in commo- 
tion, and whom they expected to assert the majesty and 
authority of government at this very hour, was himself 
overpowered. It began soon to appear that he was retir- 
ing out of sight, wailing and lamenting for the wretch who 
would have struck his father in an instant to the earth. 
The army, therefore, instead of daring to rejoice that so 
dangerous and so vile a traitor had met his reward, were 
ashamed of their victory, and were in imminent danger of 
a sympathetic sorrow over Absalom's just doom, and of a 
prevailing regret that his life had not been spared. 

The panic in Absalom's army was likely to extend to the 
(376) 



TUMUL T AND KESTORA TION. 377 

whole nation. The hour had come when long and bloody 
factions between rival tribes or rival houses might spring 
into being — an evil scarcely less than anarchy itself. 

Joab saw the crisis. It was no time for sentiment over 
such a wretch and fool. He hastened up to the city and 
to the king's headquarters. "Thou hast made thy brave 
defenders all ashamed," he said. " Thou carest more for 
Absalom than for all the loyal and true. I solemnly 
swear, if thou dost not play the man, they will all soon 
leave thee. If thou dost desert them, they will desert 
thee ; they will be gone to-night : and thou wilt be worse 
off than since the days of Saul's madness in thy youth." 

The king saw the tremendous necessity. He would judge 
Joab's crime another time.* Certainly now Joab was right 
in urging him to secure his throne. Absalom was a rebel 
against God and man. At once the king went to the gate 
and let it be known that he was at the station of judgment 
and command. At once the people rallied to him out of 
their tents, to which they had scattered, broken loose from 
all authority. 

The western tribes were confounded at the news of Ab- 
salom's death. They were amazed at the unexpected, 
rapid stride of events. David fled, on the instant of Absa- 
lom's revolt! Absalom in Jerusalem! Ahithophel's sui- 
cide ! Absalom's horrors in his crimes ! Absalom dead ! 
King David slow to come back ! They were perplexed 
and troubled ; and stood wondering and irresolute that no 
tribe moved to bring back the king. 

David was sagacious enough to see that to go back to 
his own people by force had its dangers, and that to wait 
long for a universal invitation had equal dangers. His own 
tribe ought to be foremost in welcoming him home, but 

* Observe that when David charged Solomon to execute the 
la\r upon Joab for the murder of Abner and Amasa, he does not 
charge him with the murder of Absalom. 1 Kings ii. 5, 



378 FOR T Y-NINTH S UNDA Y. 

they had rebelled with Absalom. He resolved at once to 
reassure them of his favor ; and, inasmuch as the weakness 
of the kingdom was partly his own fault, even to make 
some concession to them. He sent, therefore, his mes- 
sengers to the high- priests, and through them told his own 
tribe they should be quick to heal the present distractions. 
Overlooking their anointment of Absalom at Hebron, he 
appeals to their blood and tribal pride, and sends word to 
Amasa, whom he has just defeated in battle : " Joab must 
be removed. Thou art of my kindred : thou shalt be cap- 
tain of the host." This master-stroke of policy and of 
magnanimity was successful. The hearts of the people 
melted as one heart. It was the old David of Engedi and 
Ziklag. They sent a prompt invitation to him. They 
flocked down to Gilgal as a tribe, and led other tribes 
down there, to escort him back to Jerusalem. 

And now behold the weakness and hollow wickedness 
of human nature ! The first men of the tribe of Be?ijamin 
to trim their sails to the returning wind were the miserable 
Shimei and the hypocrite Ziba. While the men of Judah 
were preparing and sailing; across their ferry-boat on the 
Jordan as a suitable conveyance for the royal household — 
it may have been the time of year when the Jordan over- 
flowed its banks, or rains may have swollen the fords — 
Shimei was in a mortal terror, and was preparing himself 
with professions of sorrow and loyalty. In David's mind, 
he knew there was no greater crime than to curse the 
Lord's anointed. By law, divine and human, his sentence 
was death. His only hope is to be among the first to re- 
turn to loyalty, and, on the flood of the king's return, to 
ride into favor sufficient to gain a pardon. 

Ziba, too, hastened to be beforehand with the king. He 
would do good offices enough to carry him past the king's 
discovery of Mephibosheth's loyalty. With his whole reti- 
nue of fifteen sons and twenty servants, he was early 
across the Jordan, offering his welcome and assistance with 



TUMUL T AND RESTORA TION. 379 

the regiment of Benjamites — a service which could not fail 
to be pleasing to one whose eye, like the king's, quickly 
discerned the tribe and family from which every returning 
adherent came. 

What varied feeling now as the royal army approaches 
down the east bank of the Jordan ! How different from 
every triumph of David before ! Sixty-five years now 
sprinkled his beard and hair ! The more venerable. Barzil- 
lai and his attendants are in close company with the king 
and his guard ; but no one among all has passed through 
such personal suffering and trouble as the king himself. 
Shouts rend the air as the ferry-boat with the royal family 
cross to the multitude of Judah and as the army of footmen 
take to the ford ; but the shouts are subdued by a tender 
compassion for the domestic afflictions of him who now 
begins to be an old man. 

Once safe across — himself on the territory of his own 
tribe — one of the first things the king does is to invite the 
aged sheikh, who has so befriended him, to make his future 
home in Jerusalem. He offers him a home and honors in 
his old age at the capital, and all the attentions of courtly 
life. It is evident that there was a congeniality of dis- 
position and thought in the two — a noble generosity and 
sense of truth in each responding to the other. But Bar- 
zillai wisely pleads his old age and failing life, and wish 
for death and burial at his old home, as a reason for de- 
clining the more courtly and more animated life of the 
capital. Not to seem insensible, however, to the king's 
noble heart, he assigns his faithful servant Chimham to 
receive something of the king's bounty. Chimham is 
accepted,* and the king, as the Lord's anointed, kisses 
and blesses the gray-bearded sheikh, and dismisses him, 
full of honors and benevolence, to his own home. 

During this beautiful and affecting separation, or even 

* Chimham had his place near Bethlehem, which continued 
Chimham-place down to the captivity. See Jeremiah xli. 17. 



3 80 FORT Y-NIN TIT S UN DA 1 \ 

before it took place, Shimei can hardly keep from pressing 
himself before the king. We can hardly think David 
much surprised to see before him the fawning hypocrite, 
bewailing his blasphemous tongue and protesting himself j 
the first of all the rebels in Benjamin and Ephraim to hail 
him back again. Abishai is not slow to point out his 
crime. He cursed the Lord's anointed. But David is 
now erect in conscious majesty and strength. Does not 
this very trembling Benjamite show the curse that is upon 
his tribe ? The king will inaugurate now no vindictive 
slaughter of his foes. " Will I begin to put to deaih ?" he 
says. " Does not God show that I am king again? You sons 
of Zeruiah are always fierce for blood, and would provoke 
hostility just when conciliation is needed." He therefore 
signalized Shimei's appearance before him, by showing his 
disposition to pardon the rebellious party, in a solemn act 
of pardoning this traitor. He solemnly swore to Shimei 
he should not die by his own hand for his offence. This 
protected the double-tongued rebel while David's life 
should last. 

Meanwhile the people of other tribes stream down to 
Jericho and Gilgal ; Dan and Benjamin, down the Bahti- 
rim pass ; Ephraim and Manasseh, down the Michmash 
ravine ; Issachar and Zcbulim and Gad, down the river 
roads, until half the people of the remaining tribes have 
joined the multitude from Judah and Simeon. 

Together they bring the king up the hills, with a sober 
satisfaction rather than a tumultuous joy ; for they begin 
to see what they have escaped in escaping the reign of a 
weak and heartless tyrant. Nor is the satisfaction free 
from discord, for already the tribes, like the Lord's dis- 
ciples afterwards, ascending this very road, have begun to 
wrangle about precedence in honor and power. David's 
distractions are not yet over, for this envious wrangle is 
but the muttering before another rebellion. 



T UM UL T A ND RE S TOR A TION. 3 8 1 

It is with a " spirit overwhelmed " and " a heart within 
him desolate," that he enters Jerusalem. His beautiful, 
foolish, ungrateful, wicked son, who had wrung his heart 
in life and death, forever gone, his home dishonored, his 
sceptre enfeebled, and with a work still before him in his 
advancing years of reuniting a divided people. Alas ! 
how have his own sins brought it all on him ! But it is a 
king subdued by his God, penitent and with a lowly and 
unswerving confidence in Jehovah, that comes back to the 
tabernacle with a petition like this : 

Hear my prayer, O Lord ! give ear to my supplications ! 

In thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness. 

And enter not into judgment with thy servant, 

For in thy sight shall no man living be justified, 

For the enemy hath persecuted my soul. 

He hath smitten my life down to the ground ! 

He hath made me to dwell in darkness, 

As those that have been long dead. 

Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me. 

My heart within me is desolate. 

I remember the days of old. 

I meditate on all thy works, 

I muse on the works of thy hands. 

I stretch forth my hands unto thee. 

My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah ! 

Hear me speedily, O Lord, my spirith faileth ! 

Hide not thy face from me, 

Lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. 

Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning, 

For in thee do I trust. 

Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, 

For I lift up my soul unto thee. 
Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies ! 
I flee unto thee to hide me. 
Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God. 
Thy Spirit is good ! lead me into the land of uprightness. 
Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's sake ! 
For thy righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble. 
And of thy mercy cut off my mine enemies 
And destroy all them that afflict my soul, 
For I am thjr servant. — Psalm cxliii. 

For there were enemies still resolute and vindictive, 
against whom he must vindicate himself as the Anointed 
servant of his God. 



Jfifiutlj Sunirajj. 



THE REBELLION OF SHEBA. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel xix. 24-30, 41-43 ; xx. 1-23. 

THE quickness and the success of the Judahites in 
bringing back the king, provoked the other tribes. 
The northern people were irritated and their princes and 
leaders were jealous. The wrangle began either at the 
camp on the plain, or as the cavalcade started to defile up 
the rough steep (xx. 2). Representatives of Ephraim, 
Benjamin, and the tribes north, came to King David's 
tent, where men of Judah constituted the guard of honor. 
They complained that the tribe of Judah had been stealthy 
and sly. Without a word of public notice, they had has- 
tened down before the other tribes, had escorted his royal 
person across the river, and were ready to take possession 
of the king as their own. Miserable complaint it was, as 
the men of Judah taught them. " Well, is not the king 
our kinsman ? Why are you in a rage ? Do you think 
that we came down to get the king to feed us ? Where 
are the gifts and honors which we have been looking after." 
" But why did ye not take our advice also ? Ten tribes 
have ten parts : more right than you." It is easy to im- 
agine the reply of Judah : " Why, then, were you so slow 
to hasten down ? You lay nearer than we. If you were 
so hot to have the king back, why were you not at Jordan 
(382) 



THE REBELLION OF SHEBA. 383 

in time to consult ? You know well enough that hesitation 
was putting all Israel in peril. Now that all goes well, it 
is easy indeed to find fault." And thus they laid on in a 
fierce oriental clamor. But the southern people were too 
fierce for the northern, and too obviously in the right. 
But though the northerners were beaten, their discontent 
continued, and soon after flamed out into insurrection. 
Many of them left the cavalcade before it reached Jericho 
or the mountains (xx. 2). 

No sooner had king David reached Jerusalem, than 
another important incident occurred. The most impor- 
tant man, in many respects, in the whole north, at this 
critical time, hastened to pay him honor. This was the 
lame Mephibosheth — impotent enough as a personal 
leader, but with an admirable title for a hostile rallying 
cry. Where had he been hidden ? Certainly he could 
not have ventured - into the public under Absalom. With 
uncombed beard, his clothes unwashed, his crippled feet 
undressed, he sought the king. " Why did not you go 
with me?" is the king's piercing question. "My lord, I 
was basely betrayed. I was prepared, even with gifts. 
Ziba played false. He took my ass, and what could a 
lame man do in the tumult ? Behold, my beard and my 
dress do show how I have mourned over thy sorrow, and 
over my own betrayal. I do come to submit the case to thee. 
As an angel of God, is thy heart; when my father's house 
was dead, thou didst lift me up to thy table. I have no 
right but thy good pleasure, my lord, O king." Thus the 
humble, true-hearted man went on, knowing that Ziba's 
story was plausible, and that the nation would approve, if 
the king bids his servants to thrust him through. At 
length the king said, " Say no more. I cannot now go 
back on Ziba. This is ordered. Divide the estate between 
you." "It matters little if he have it all, since thou art 
restored," said the devoted, grateful man. David's brusque 



384 FIFTIETH SUNDAY. 

manner to him may have been provoked by the critical 
attitude of the Benjamites and Ephraimites, for hardly had 
there been time for this significant event to take place, 
and for David to signify, by a public act, his abhorrence of 
Absalom's adultery, than a new and alarming turn is given to 
affiairs. A bold man rises up, willing to risk the champion- 
ship of the northern discontent. This is Sheba, not only 
from Saul's tribe, but from Saul's branch of the tribe, for 
both Saul and Sheba were Bichrites or sons of Bicher, and 
Mephibosheth and Sheba were of the same stock. Sheba 
must have been a man of some power, as he was certainly 
a man of some resolution, for the people followed him, 
and one of the most prudent cities of the north fortified 
itself for him. He divined that the time had come to 
bring back the power of government to Benjamin or 
Ephraim. One word he believed would now concentrate 
and direct the flood of passion ; so he blew the signal of 
revolt: "Judah claims the son of Jesse. We have no 
part ! To your tents, O Israel " — not only a cry for the dis- 
persion of the army and a rally to their reserved rights 
and original judgment, but also a summons to Sheba's 
standard. The ten tribes did rally to him, and nearly 
accomplished that which Jeroboam accomplished after 
Solomon's death. 

Now came the time to try the mettle of the new general. 
Promptness and power, and a stroke, were all-important. 
" Assemble the full force of ^udah ; lose no time. Be 
back in three days," is the king's order to Amasa. But 
Amasa lacked rallying power in his own tribe, or he did 
not appreciate the occasion. Neither orientals then, nor 
occidentals now, like to accept, in a day, the summons of a 
defeated general. Annoyed by the delay, the king said to 
Abishai, "If Sheba gather strength, he will be stronger 
than Absalom. Take the royal guard and our soldiers 
here, and go. Let him not gain a fortified city." It was 



THE REBELLION OF SHEBA. 385 

the flower of the army. Joab and his men, the Cherethites, 
the Pelethites, and all the mighty men. They pushed 
towards Gibeon. They were soon enough to drive Sheba ; 
but they were not too soon for Amasa. More alert than 
they supposed, he had already crossed from Judah to 
Benjamin ; passing Jerusalem in haste, to make up for 
delay. There, across the stony ridges, jirst by " the great 
stone" at Gibeon, was Amasa's army. There, where 
thirty years before the young men of Abner and of Joab 
had played on " the field of strong men," they met. A 
raging fire of passion is Joab's heart, to see his rival above 
him, and ahead of him in the pursuit, and the very 
place is suggestive of challenge and triumph. But the 
challenge even of passion and hate would have been honor 
itself compared to Joab's horrid treachery. With malicious 
disregard of oriental honor, he went forward to salute his 
cousin. The kissing of the beard is not an every-day 
compliment. With stately ceremony, therefore Joab.raised 
the beard of his superior to kiss it. The very posture 
would conceal the sword in his left hand. With one terri- 
ble girdling stroke he disemboweled his rival, bespattering 
himself from girdle to sandals with the blood.* At this, 
Joab vaults over Abishai into his old place. One of his 
body-guard cries out, as the people came up to the 
ghastly body, " He that likes Joab for general and David 
for king, go after Joab." With that, he removed the 
bloody body out of the r<3ad, and covered it with a cloth, 
and sent on the men. They drove Sheba to the very 
north. They gave him no chance to secure a city till they 
came to Abel, which was even beyond Dan. By pushing 
on, he had adroitly gained sufficient time to secure the ear 
of a people famed for good judgment ; and he so repre- 



* See 1 Kings i 



386 FIFTIETH SUNDA Y. 

sented the posture of the tribes that the citizens gave him 
their city. 

At what cities might Sheba have made a stand? At 
Bethel in Benjamin, which Jeroboam afterwards made one 
of his capitals — had it not been so near Jerusalem. At 
beautiful Shechem in Ephraim, queen of the vale, digni- 
fied with mountains of blessings and cursing, where Reho- 
boam was in the anointed king. At Jezreel, afterwards 
Ahab's capital. But Amasa's army was too sharp in pur- 
suit for him to stop even there. He thought best to put 
the Esdraelan valley between himself and the royal army. 
Hazor, which had been twice the head of kings, to the 
terror of all Israel, was probably stripped of defences. 
Kedesh in Naphtali was so far to the north, that Abel, the 
prudent, but little beyond, was preferred as stronger, 
and more commanding in reputation. The position 
once secured there, he will gradually advance south- 
wards. Everywhere along the way his outrunners gather 
the disaffected. From Benjamin and Ephraim, and Ma- 
nasseh, and Issacher, and Zebulun, and Naphtali, as 
he went north, and from " all the Beerites " — who- 
ever that unknown people of the north were — he 
gathered a motley army, which, to the multitude, seemed 
to have elements of strength. With the people of Abel, 
Sheba could use plausible arguments. He rehearsed, no 
doubt, the rebellion of Absalom, the dissatisfaction and 
discontent, the crimes and shame of David, the success of 
Absalom, the real weakness of the king, the claim of 
Judah that David was their king, the exclusion of the ten 
tribes from the royal counsels, so that they had been compell- 
ed to take up arms. It was the old story — repeated so often 
since — of the disaffected arrayed against the acknowledged 
faults of a generally good government. But it was plausi- 
ble enough, and Sheba, at the bead of representatives from 
so many tribes, seemed powerful enough to deserve sup- 



THE REBELLION OF SHEBA. 387 

port. Especially would it be so, if the tribes should flow 
in in a few days, and signify that the revolt had large pro- 
portions. So it seemed to the Abelites. 

But behold, in a day or two, the forces which appeared 
were not the gathering forces of northern tribes, but the 
royal forces. At once a siege rampart was thrown up 
around the city ; trees were felled, approaches to the walls 
were made, battering rams were swung, and tower and 
wall began to tremble at the blows. There was a tre- 
mendous energy and prompt despatch against the city, 
which struck terror to the multitude within, and confirmed 
the suspicions of the wise that all Sheba's wisdom was not 
right. The people found out that it was the terrible Joab 
and not Amasa at their gates. 

Forthwith a wise woman appeared on the wall and called 
for the commander of the outside forces. On his appear- 
ance, she wished to know if he were indeed Joab. And 
having made sure that she was addressing his sagacious 
mind, she said (1.) The city of Abel had always had 
the reputation of being a wise town. (2.) That the people 
— certainly no one more than herself — were disposed to 
be peaceful and faithful. (3.) That Joab was about to 
destroy a mother-town — the Lord's inheritance for his 
people. To which Joab replied that neither he nor his 
royal Master wished to destroy any town or people in the 
kingdom. It was simply a matter of treason. Sheba was 
exciting revolt. If he were delivered, he himself would 
leave the city at once. The woman comprehended the 
truth. There was no large disaffection. Sheba was a 
mere disturber. Confident of her power with the rulers, 
she said, " His head shall be flung to thee over the wall." 
She went to the elders and the people. In good words 
and chosen reasons, she set the matter in its true light 
before them, showing the wickedness of Sheba, and the 
just danger in which they had placed the city. The city 



388 FIFTIETH SUNDA Y. 

were of one mind with her. They flung Sheba's head over 
the wall. 

And Joab, disdaining to follow or to reorganize the pal- 
try army, sounded his trumpet, drew back to his encamp- 
ment, and took up his leisurely march for the capital, 
leaving the miserable defeated to sneak back to their 
tribes and towns. 

Joab again, vindictive as he was, the astute Joab had 
killed the rebellion at its birth. Commander he was born 
to be, commander he would be, and commander he con- 
tinued to be over all the host of Israel. 



Jfiffo-fimt SSwt&ag* 



SONGS OF FAITH IN TROUBLE. 



ESSON. 

2 Samuel xx. i, 2, 4-6, 23-26 ; Psalms xl., Ixx., xiv., liii., xxii., xxviii., Ixi., cix. 

WHAT a ceaseless sea of afflictions and of cares had 
now beaten on David for more than forty years, 
for he is now more than three-score of age. But these 
last afflictions are the most terrible of all. The schemes 
of an ambition early awakened in him by God's prophet, 
conducted by God himself in marvelous directions, and 
culminating in a united kingdom and in a sublime dis- 
play of the divine glory, seem now either thwarted or 
weakened. Sin, crime, shame, punishment, family shame, 
treachery, rebellion, cruel, hopeless death, all these now 
followed by general national destruction, bow down his 
head and heart. While the new rebellion of Sheba is in 
progress, and even before the king has time to discern the 
real situation of Jerusalem, what fears and temptations 
assail him ! Is God to break up his kingdom, as he did 
King Saul's? Are his sins to bring on him his just 
deserts ? Is his own example to lead bad men to wicked 
success ? Is God to avert his favor, by sending him 
down to his grave miserable and dishonored, even though 
he raise up a son afterwards to keep the succession ? 
Some such thoughts as these in all probability agitated 
the king's heart, as he at first watched the attitude of 

(389) 



3QO FIFTY-FIRST SUNDAY. 

Mephibosheth, or as afterwards he saw the royal guard go 
northwards, leaving him defenceless — to take the place 
of the tardy Amasa — or as he heard of Joab's new malice 
over the bloody body at Gibeon. He must have been 
some other person than David not to have had at this 
time such commotions within himself. But the course of 
feeling in many a psalm of David shows that lofty courage 
takes finally the place of dishearten men t, and high faith in 
God at length the place of doubt. To this confidence in 
God we know that he did return — the confidence of faith, 
of obedience, of penitence, of indignant denunciation of 
the wicked and their wickedness. 

Several psalms which may be classed together, and 
which obviously belong to this general period of his life, 
we may locate here. They are the expression of a mature 
inward life which rests now deep down on the very attri- 
butes of God — on his promises ; on the predictions of 
his kingdom ; on his just anger and overthrow against the 
wicked ; on assurance of God's favor to himself generally, 
and which rises at times into a priestly identification of 
himself with that Seed of his line in whom all nations 
should be blessed. 

Of these psalms, take up first the Fortieth. In this 
psalm the expressions are deeply spiritual — the mature 
expressions of a person who has a profound sense of sin- 
fulness, and who has a profound sense of the value of 
pardon : 

I waited patiently for the Lord, 

And he inclined unto me and heard my cry. 

He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, 

And set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. 

And he hath put a new song into my mouth, praise unto our God ! 

Many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord- 

These words have special significance if they represent 
David's personal sins, his personal wretchedness, the ef- 



SONGS OF FAITH IN TROUBLE. $gi 

fort which it cost him to confess in public, the sweetness 
of God's recognized pardon, and the effect of such an ex- 
ample of forgiveness on others. 

The great Seer's awful rebuke to King Saul, " Hath the 
Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as 
in obeying the voice of the Lord ?" he has laid to heart ; 
and such is his true acceptance of God's will for himself 
as prophet, priest and king, his profound recognition that 
the spirit is above the ceremonial,* that his spirit is at one 
with that Greater One who said on coming into the worldf — 

Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, 

Mine ears hast thou opened. 

Burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required, 

Then said I, Lo ! I come : in the volume of the book it is written of me,| 

I delight to do thy will, O God ! 

Yea, thy law is written in my heart. 

What power is given to the meaning, when we consider 
that David has vindicated the righteousness of God's law 
against himself and all his sins, confessing and abasing 
himself before the nation, and exalting the pure truth of 
God's law, even in spite of the jeers of scoffers and infi- 
dels and vile men, when we read, — 

I have preached righteousness in the great congregation, 

Lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest, 

I have not hid my righteousness within my heart ; 

I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation, 

I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth 

From the great congregation. 

What an appeal for God's mercy, and God's preserva- 
tion in consistence with truth, does he base on the unre- 



* How much more significant is this when we remember what 

David himself had done for the ceremonial. 

f. Hebrews x. 3-7. 

% In the volume of God's promises, it was written that such a Seed should 
come to set up a kingdom for God. 



39 2 FIFTY-FIRST SUNDAY. 

served acknowledgment of his troubles and of his sins as 
the cause of his troubles : 

For innumerable evils have compassed me about, 

Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, 

So that I am not able to look up ; 

They are more than the hairs of my head, 

Therefore my heart faileth me ; 

Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me, etc. 

The rest of this psalm constitutes the Seventieth psalm 
also, and is there declared to be 

A psalm, to bring to remembrance. 

If it was designed to bring to his own remembrance the 
time when he was driven out of his throne and subjected 
to Shimei's malice ; to bring to remembrance publicly the 
crime and shame of reviling the Lord's Anointed; to bring 
to Shimei's remembrance his offence and his dependence 
on the king's clemency; to bring to the remembrance of 
all revilers of God, their certain defeat before God ; if it 
was designed to bring to remembrance David's distrac- 
tion when he came back to Jerusalem, it would serve a 
powerful purpose as the conclusion of one psalm and as a 
separate psalm reiterated : 

Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me, 

Make haste to my help, O Lord ! 

Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul to 

destroy it, 
Let them be driven backward and put to confusion that wish me evil, 
Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame, 
That say unto me, Aha ! Aha ! 

Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee ! 
Let such as love thy salvation, say continually, 
11 The Lord be magnified." 
But I am poor and needy, 
Yet the Lord thinketh on me ; 
Thou art my help and my deliverer, 
Make no tarrying, O my God ! 

The Fourteenth and the Fifty-third psalms are substan- 
tially one. They represent, as the closing verse signifies, 



SONGS OF FAITH IN TROUBIE. 



393 



a time, when people were in captivity ; but that the " cap- 
tivity" does not necessarily refer to the exile to Babylon, 
is plain from Deborah's description of a captivity at Israel 
in her time (Judges v. 12), and from the fact that the 
people in the Judges' time were sold into the hands of 
oppressors. To be sold into the hands of Absalom and 
Ahithophel was a captivity. And at no time more than 
in such a captivity, would bad men rise up to make capi- 
tal of David's offences, to declare religion a craft, the 
existence of God a delusion, and to throw off all moral 
obligation. None of them could shake David's confidence 
in God, nor deceive him with respect to that condition of 
the heart which endeavored to shake off God and his 
obligations. 

A PSALM OF DAVID. 

To the leader of Music on Mahalath. 

The fool hath said in his heart, " No God !" 

Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity. 

There is none that doeth good ! 

God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, 

To see if there were any that did understand, 

That did seek God, etc. 



Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion, 
When God bringeth back the captivity of his people. 
Jacob shall rejoice, 
And Israel shall be glad. 

In strong confidence that the God who promised, " I 
will make thee a house/' will fulfill his promise to him 
and his seed, even though all men have forsaken him, the 
Twenty-second psalm was composed. His kingly and 
priestly place make him in this a type of Messiah, who 
was forsaken of all, even of God. David may or may not 
have had a consciousness that in describing his own per- 
son and sorrow, he was describing his own Great Son 
when denied his right seat at the head of the nation and 
reviled by the multitude. 



394 FIFTY-FIRST SUNDAY. 

A PSALM OF DAVID. 
To the Leader of Music : on " the Hind of the Morning." 
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me. 
Why art thou so far from helping me, 
And from the words of my roaring. 

All they that see me laugh me to scorn. 

They shoot out the lips, they shake the head ! 

" He trusted in the Lord, that he would deliver him. 

Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him." 

But thou art he that took me out of the womb, 

That didst make me hope upon my mother's breast. 

My strength is dried up like a potsherd, 

And my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, 

And thou hast brought me into the dust of death. 

For the dogs have compassed me. 

The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. 

They pierced my hands and my feet. 

I may tell all my bones. 

They look and stare upon me. 

They part my garments among them, 

And cast lots upon my vestments. 

But be not thou, O Lord, far from me. 

O my strength, haste thee to help me. 

All the ends of the world shall remember, 

And shall return unto God. 

And all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee, 

For the kingdom is the Lord's, 

And He is the Governor among the nations. 

A seed shall serve him, 

It shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation, etc. 

Against the temptation which comes from disappoint- 
ment and from the prevalence of specious bad men, at 
some such time as this, David prays in the Twenty-eighth 
psalm : 

Unto thee will I cry, O Lord, my rock, 

Be not silent to me, lest if thou be silent to me 

I become like them that go down into the pit. 

Hear the voice of my supplication, when I cry unto thee, 

When I lift up my hands towards thy holy oracle. 

Draw me not away with the wicked and with the workers of iniquity, 

Which speak peace to their neighbors, 

But mischief is in their heart, etc. 



SONGS OF FAITH IN TROUBLE. 395 

So, too, does he express his personal confidence that his 
own kingly life will certainly be spared, and that his reign 
shall flow on in the long succession of generations. 

A PSALM OF DAVID 
(Afterwards dedicated to the Chief Musician upon the Stringed Instruments). 



Hear my cry, O God ! 

Attend unto my prayer. 

From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, 

When my heart is overwhelmed : 

Lead to the rock that is higher than I. 

For thou hast been a shelter for me, 

And a strong tower from the enemy. 

I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever : 

I will trust in the covert of thy wings. 

For thou, O God, hast heard my vows ; 
Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name. 
Thou wilt prolong the king's life ; 
And his years as many generations. 
He shall abide before God for ever. 

Oh ! prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him. 
So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, 
That I may daily perform my vows. — Psalm bri. 

Of quite another kind is the One Hundred and Ninth 
psalm, in which he invokes the divine punishment on the 
wicked. The vindictive appeals are appeals to God. In 
David's conception such has been the incorrigible wicked- 
ness of these men, that God is no longer to hold his peace. 
They have abused both right and love. They have per- 
sisted in giving malice in return for kindness, and they pre- 
sume upon forbearance and mercy. They assail with lies 
and curses the Lord's Anointed — pulling down the divine 
constitution of his kingdom set up for the benefit of all 
mankind — revelling in the downfall of the king's shame 
and calamity, and refusing to see the jealous care which 
his confession and penitence have for purity and holiness 
and God's law. They are fit, therefore, only for the place 
of the incorrigible pagans of the earth — to be cast out 
under the fearful curses of the law of Moses. If their sins 



396 FIFTY-FIRST SUNDAY. 

are to go unpunished, then all government and all justice 
and all love must suffer. For his Anointed' s sake, who is 
set for righteous rule, for his kingdom's sake, God should 
arise against them. And if David would make them feel 
the power of his just indignation against their horror of sin, 
then must he utter his sense of their deserts, in the oriental 
form, as he did over Joab's horrid treachery, at the slaughter 
of Abner at Hebron.* This strong imprecatory psalm is 
therefore just and right. It is just what every good man 
will instinctively feel, when war rises up in his own govern- 
ment and the absolutely malicious element comes boldly 
forth, with devilish persistence and perversion, to distort the 
good and to practice evil. In such a situation undoubt- 
edly arose this famous imprecatory psalm, dedicated, for the 
support of justice and authority, to the tabernacle service 
and delivered to the chief musician. 

A PSALM OF DAVID. 

Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise, 

For the mouth of the wicked and mouth of deceit 

Are opened against me. 

They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. 

They compassed me about with words of hatred, 

And fought against me without a cause. 

For my love they are my adversaries, 

But I give myself unto prayer. 

And they have rewarded me evil for good 

And hatred for my love. 

Set thou a wicked man over him, 

And let Satan (or an adversary) stand at his right hand. 

When he shall be judged, let him be condemned. 

And let his prayer become sin. 

Let his days be few ; and let another take his office. 

Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. 

Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg. 

Let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. 

Let the extortioner catch all that he hath, 

And let the strangers spoil his labor. 

Let there be none to extend mercy unto him; 

Neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children, 



* 2 Samuel iii. 28, 29. 



SONGS OF FAITH IN TROUBLE. 397 

Let his posterity be cut off. 

In the generation following let their name be blotted out. 

Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord, 

And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. 

Let them be before the Lord continually, 

That he may cut off the memory of them from the earth. 

Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, 

But persecuted the poor and needy man, 

That he might even slay the broken in heart, etc. 

Whatever may be the spirit of this psalm, it is but the 
spirit of curses denounced against the disobedient by the 
law of Moses, in which every evil to body, mind and estate, 
person, family and nation, is declared.* That which by 
divine revelation was deemed necessary in order to make 
an impression upon the coarse civilization and gross ten- 
dencies of the age, is here specifically applied to those who 
despise God's Anointed Ruler, and that great realm of 
truth and holiness impersonated in his official character. 
On the supposition that the psalm is addressed by David as 
God's Anointed, to God to no longer hold his peace against 
the incorrigible, from whose advance His kingdom is in 
danger, the law of Moses — the law in its terrible justness — 
would seem to be here properly applied. If revelation of 
such a thing to Moses in law was right, then revelation of 
such a thing to David in psalms was right also. 



* Read Deuteronomy xxviii. 15-68. It is wonderful to note the 
things specified : consumption, fever and inflammation, botob, 
scab and itch, madness and blindness, cursing ; vexation and re- 
buke, sword, blasting and mildew, drought and blight, spoiling 
and captivity, hunger, thirst and nakedness, siege and famine, 
" every sickness and every plague," dispersion and weariness 
of life, etc. 



Jfiftg-sKcmir Stttiirajj. 



THREE YEARS' FAMINE. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel xxi. 1-14 ; Joshua ix. 3-21 : Numbers xxxv. 31-33 ; Psalm Ixviii. 

WE come now to a terrible event, which shows the 
wide contrast between David's times and our own. 
Notwithstanding the amiable graces of David's reign, the 
spirit of ancient Eastern society was hard and fierce. Joab 
is a truer type of that life than David. Fierce, vindictive, 
and wilful, had Joab been king he would have been a royal 
brother to Cambyses and Darius and Smerdis, to Pharaoh, 
and to the later Assyrians, if he had not been an ignoble 
example to Ahab himself. The general rule of all the 
East was absolute tyranny. The king's will must show 
its authority in acts of power. Cruelty and blood were 
swift and easy ways to vindicate authority. Severe as was 
Moses' law of retaliation, it was a lenient law compared 
with the cruel exactions outside the Hebrew nation. It was 
a law of justice in place of a habit of caprice. " Blood for 
blood ; limb for limb ; tooth for tooth ;" — it was often 
terrible, but still it was a powerful modification of mere 
wilful vengeance, royal or private. So, too, the right of the 
blood-avenger was a merciful right — although it descended 
from father to son, and doubtless often perpetuated 
or generated vindictiveness. It was of the utmost im- 
(39S) 



THREE YEARS' FAMINE. 399 

portance to the kingdom under God, and to the honor of 
the Mosaic law, that these two laws should be maintained. 

Now in Saul's reign, a terrible wrong had been com- 
mitted. For it, neither pardon had been bestowed nor had 
justice been rendered. It had broken not only the plight- 
ed public honor of the nation, but the plighted honor of 
the Divine Sovereign. The crime had been committed 
by the king himself before all the nation against a people 
taken solemnly under the protection of the nation, and 
unable by their humble station to defend himself. That 
Jehovah, therefore, who rose up in jealousy for His own 
humiliated people in Egypt, arose now against his own 
people in Canaan for their Egyptian outrage on the hu- 
miliated and outraged Gibeonites. 

Let us take the story in order. 

1. A famine appeared in the land. The rain probably 
ceased, and for three or even four or five years, the crops 
failed, until there were three full years of famine. 

2. David recognized this famine as a divine infliction, 
and sought by sacrifice and priests the reason for it. The 
answer from the divine oracle gave as the reason, "Blood 
defile th the land." It was a punishment of the nation for 
not exacting justice between Saul's house and the Gibeon- 
ites. It may be that punishment was inflicted at that 
time for the additional reason that the refractory nation 
needed to be subdued by a divine hand. 

3. The crime was this : At some time during Saul's 
reign — very likely after his leniency to Agag, and his ter- 
rible loss of favor — Saul awoke to a spasmodic zeal against 
the heathen nations of the land. But, instead of royally 
fighting with the really formidable heathen, he fell on the 
innocent Gibeonites. The Gibeonites were neither rebels 
nor heathen. They had submitted — there were four cities 
of them* — at the very beginning of the conquest — their 

* Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath-Jearim (Joshua ix. 17.) 



4oo 



FIFTY-SECOND SUNDA Y. 



very artifice having been but a dexterous acknowledgment 
of Jehovah's power and of the Hebrew triumph. This 
was a bold stroke for them, and it brought on them the 
kings of Jebus, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon in 
that famous battle when Joshua said, " Sun, stand thou 
still on Gibeon." They obtained a solemn league with 
the nation, confirmed by an oath taken by the princes of 
the congregation. The agreement was that the Gibeon- 
ites would be hewers of wood and drawers of water to the 
nation, and that the nation would preserve and protect 
them. And so thoroughly had they incorporated them- 
selves with the Israelites that the historian of the Second 
Book of Samuel stops to explain that they were " not of 
the children of Israel, but a remnant of the Amorites." 
This solemn league and formal oath, the conditions of 
which had been observed by the Gibeonites for long years, 
Saul ruthlessly broke. Whether Saul sought to extermi- 
nate them, or waged only a battle or two against them, he 
had committed a great crime, disastrous to the very foun- 
dations of holiness. 

4. David at once acknowledged the wrong, and the 
right of the Gibeonites to demand justice according to the 
law, by calling to himself the representatives of the city or 
cities, and asking what atonement the nation should make. 

5. The Gibeonites claimed their right. They would 
take no silver or gold — a compensation so common among 
nations that the Hebrew law presupposed its general prac- 
tice (Numbers xxxv. 31.) They said that the house which 
committed the wrong should pay the penalty, and they de- 
manded the blood-avengement of the law. As " satisfac- 
tion," according to law, for their slaughtered kinsmen, and 
their attempted extermination, they said, " Deliver us 
seven — around number — of Saul's house, and their lives 
shall pay the penalty. We will show the Lord that justice 
has been rendered." 



THREE YEARS' FAMINE. 



401 



6. No choice remained to David but to yield to this 
legal requisition. God had taken the wrong into His own 
hands, to avenge by His own power, and famine was per- 
haps destroying far more than blood-revenge required. 
He therefore did not simply consent, but approved this 
fulfillment of the law, and at once proceeded to meet the 
demand. 

7. Who now should the seven be ? His oath to Jona- 
than would not permit Mephibosheth to be a victim, and 
there was no other son of Saul by the male line. There 
were, however, two sons of a concubine of Saul, Rizpah, 
in respect to whom Abner had the fatal rupture with 
Ishbosheth (iii. 7). And there were also five sons either of 
Michal or Merab.* These seven men, full grown, were 
taken and delivered. Whether their character deserved 
the punishment we do not know. 

8. The same persons delivered to the Gibeonites, were, 
by the Gibeonites, hung up on a stake f "before the 
Lord," just on the very spot where the Ark of God was 
once consulted by Saul (1 Samuel xiv. 16-18). The mode 
of death was probably the Gibeonites' choice ; and the 



* 2 Samuel xxi. 8, says, " Five sons of Michal whom she brought 
up for Adriel." 1 Samuel xviii. 19 says that " Merab, Saul's 
daughter, was given unto Adriel." We may solve the discrep- 
ancy by this supposition : Merab died before the coronation of 
David, having been Adriel's wife ten or twelve years. After 
Merab's death Michal adopted the children of her sister at the 
request of Adriel, her brother-in-law. When Abner brought 
back Michal to David, the children left behind across the Jordan 
were from seven to fifteen years old ; and now when taken as 
victims they were men from thirty-three to forty-two years old. 

f The Hebrew word translated "hanged "means crucified, or 
rather hung up and dislocated — not on a cross, a later Roman 
punishment, but on a stake. Perhaps they were put to death 
first and hung up afterwards as a public exhibition of punish- 
ment. 



402 



FIFTY-SECOND SUNDA Y. 



hanging them up "before the Lord," may have been con- 
nected in their minds with the fact that Jehovah had, by 
the famine, called public attention to the crime. This 
strange sacrifice or execution was not in Gibeon, but in 
Gibea/i, so that the retaliation might be manifest to all. 

9. This was done at the beginning of the barley-harvest, 
and yet the famine was not stayed. In the face of the 
blazing summer sun the bodies hung, as were hung up on 
the plains of Moab those heads of the people of Israel 
who sacrificed in sensual worship with the Moabites.* 

Rizpah, in one of the most pitiful pastoral spectacles of 
all history, sat down before the victims. With a pitiful hor- 
ror of that which Asaph afterwards described when the 
heathen conquered Jerusalem, — 



" The dead bodies of thy servants have they given 
To be meat unto the fowls of heaven. 
The flesh of thy saints 
Unto the beasts of the earth, — " 

an end most abhorrent to the Hebrew, — u she spread on the 
rocky floor the thick mourning cloth of black sackcloth, 
which as a widow she wore, and crouching there she watch- 
ed that neither vulture nor jackal should molest the 
bodies.f That she did not seek to take them -down, that 
no one, moved by her devotion, offered to help her, seems 
to show that all acquiesced in the execution of the ap- 
proved law. That she waited for water to drop out of 
heaven, signifies that she waited for the token of the 
cessation of the wrath of heaven in the falling rain in 
October." 

10. At length the attention of the king was directed to 
Rizpah's constancy and her prolonged devotion. The pic- 
ture of the old woman crouching before the dead bodies 
stirred anew his pity. The Gibeonites, through ignorance 



* See Numbers xxv. 4. f Grove. 



THREE YEARS' FAMINE. 403 

or otherwise, might not have observed the law of Moses. 
" The body hung upon a tree shall not remain all night, 
that the land shall not be defiled."* David might also 
have been moved by the apparent breach of the Mosaic 
Law. For this neglect the divine reconciliation might 
be stayed. 

At once, therefore, the king ordered the bones of Saul 
and of Jonathan to be gathered from the oak at Jabesh- 
Gilead, and the dried bodies of the seven to be taken 
down. Then all together were honorably buried by the 
king's commandment in the family sepulchre at Zelah, a 
few miles from Gibeah. Thus mercy and justice were ex- 
pressed ; and the prayers at the tabernacle and through- 
out the land for relief from famine were at last heard. 

It has been supposed, that after the abundant rain had 
refreshed the land, and all the people were rejoicing in 
the restoration of God's favor, the people themselves sub- 
dued and united under God's chastisement, David gave 
utterance to the joyful sense of His wise and just rule, in 
the sublime Sixty-eighth psalm : 

A PSALM OR SONG OF DAVID. 

TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN. 

Let God arise : let his enemies be scattered, 

Let them also that hate him flee from his face. 

As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. 

As wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. 

But let the righteous be glad. 

Let them rejoice before God ; yea, let them rejoice with gladness. 

Sing unto God, sing praises to his name. 

Extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, 

And rejoice before him. 

A father of the fatherless and a judge of widows 

Is God in his holy habitation. 

God setteth the solitary in families, 

He bringeth out those which are bound in chains ; 

But the rebellious dwell in a dry land. 

O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, 



* Deuteronomy xxi. 22, 23. 



404 



FIFTY-SECOND SUNDAY. 



When thou didst march through the wilderness. Selah ! 

The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God. 

Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. 

Thou, O God, didst shake out a plentiful rain. 

Whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance when it was weary. 

Thy congregation hath dwelt therein. 

Thou, O God, hath prepared of thy goodness for the poor. 

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits. 

Even the God of our salvation. Selah '. 

Our God is the God of salvation, 

And unto God the Lord belong the issues from death ; 

But God shall wound the head of his enemies, 

The hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses. 

The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan. 

I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea. 

Bless ye God in the congregations, 

The Lord from the fountain of Israel. 

There is little Benjamin with their ruler. 

The princes of Judah and their council, 

The princes of Zebulon, and the princes of Naphtali. 

Thy God hath commanded thy strength. 

Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought in us. 

Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee. 

Ascribe ye strength unto God. 

His excellency is over Israel and his strength is in the clouds. 

O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places. 

The God of Israel is he 

That giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God ! 



Jxftg-ijjirir Sitntrarr, 



SONGS IN OLD AGE. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel xxi. 15-22 ; xxii. ; 1 Chronicles xx. 4-8 ; xxvii. 11 ; Psalms xviii, 
bed., xxxvii. 

DAVID was about sixty-seven years of age, at the begin- 
ning of the famine ; and now at the end of the famine, 
he was about sixty-four. There was one more battle to be 
fought against the Philistines, — a mere fight — a parting 
salute to those old haters, and then his wars will be over.* 
But it was quite another thing to fight as a grey-beard 
than to fight as a lively youth. For when David went 
down to the old region of Gezer and Gath, his old 
age so failed him that one of the Rephaim, Ishbi-benob, 
a gigantic fellow with a brass or bronze spear-point, weigh- 
ing eight pounds, thought he had him in his power. But for 
the fierce Abishai, who could not have been much younger 
than David, David's life might after all have gone out 
under a Philistine. His body-guard saw the danger and 
said : " You must go no more to battle : you will quench 
the light of Israel." Three other giants were slain after- 
wards by his brave men : the giant Siph, by Sibbechai, the 
eighth captain over David's army divisions of twenty -four 



* It is possible that these events occurred during previous wars 
as some suppose. 

(405) 



4 o6 FIFTY-THIRD SUNDAY. 

thousand ; the brother of Goliath of Gath, who had a 
spear-staff like his brother Goliath's, if not Goliath's own, 
by Elhanan of Bethlehem ; and the six-fingered, six-toed 
monster,* who defied Israel, like old Goliath, by David's 
nephew, Jonathan, who rivaled his great uncle's great 
exploit. These four giants were brothers. It was a com- 
paratively easy thing now to fight and kill them when 
David had led the way, when the power of his name was 
felt, and the prestige of the kingdom was established, and 
when the Philistines were a mere remnant cowed under 
more than forty years' reverses. 

Quite likely these parallel challenges and fights belonged 
to one short campaign — the end of the great warrior's 
military career. At length, all the lying nations were sub- 
dued, — Philistia, Edom, Amnion, Syria of the two rivers. 
The internal dissensions had been put down, more grievous 
and more painful than all foreign wars. The famine was 
over. The land was now in broad possession of peace. 
The orderly observance of government and of religion was 
universally renewed. As old age was now coming on, 
the king looked out over a tranquil land, from north to 
south, marked with personal conflicts with enemies from 
east to west, filled with scenes of his personal mistakes 
and sins. As he retires from his life of military warfare, 
he takes in the broad survey. A tide of emotion fills his 
soul. Devout thanksgivings and ascriptions of glory to 
God well up. Always in every instinct a poet, his genius 
ripens with a culture which is spiritual — the culture of 
the soul rather than the culture of the intellect or of the 
heart. In lofty imagery and sublime descriptions of God, 



* " Men with six fingers and six toes have been met with else- 
where. Pliny speaks of certain six-fingered Romans. This 
peculiarity is even hereditary in some families." — Keil and Dc- 
/ifzsch. Six-fingered families are not unknown in this country. 



SONGS IN OLD AGE. 407 

he reviews his marvellous career. Revising a psalm of 
thanksgiving originally written after deliverance from Saul, 
he gives it a noble enlargement and sends it to the 
heavenly tabernacle as the song which he " spake unto 
the Lord, in the day that the Lord delivered him out of 
the hands of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul," 
and which afterwards, with slight alterations, took its place 
in the Book of Psalms. 

DAVID'S SONG. 

The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, 

The God of my rock ; in him will I trust ; 

My shield and the horn of my salvation, 

My high tower and my refuge, my Saviour, 

Thou savest me from violence. 

I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, 

So shall I be saved from my enemies. 

When the waves of death compassed me, 

The floods of ungodly men made me afraid, 

The sorrows of hell compassed me about, 

The snares of death prevented me, 

In my distress, I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God ; 

And he did hear my voice out of his temple, 

And my cry did enter into his ears. — Psahn xviii. 

Then follows one of the sublimest descriptions of the 
progress and power and overwhelming prowess of God as 
a warrior, beside the simplicity of which Milton's descrip- 
tions are dim indeed. Such expressions afterwards, as 

The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, 

According to the cleanness of my hands, hath he recompensed me, 

For I have kept the ways of the Lord, 

And have not wickedly departed from my God. 

Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness, 
According to thy cleanness in his eyesight, 



cannot, of course, for a moment refer to the purity and 
innocence of his whole personal life, but must refer either 
to his official integrity in administering the kingdom, or to 



408 FIFTY-THIRD SUNDAY. 

his honorable and righteous treatment of the Anointed 
Saul.* 

All the acts of his own prowess — so great in the eyes 
of the nation — he attributes to God. 

For by thee I broke through a troop, 

And by my God I leaped over a wall (the walls of towns). 



He made my feet like hinds' feet, 

And set me upon my high places. 

He taught my hands to war, 

So that a bow of steel was broken by my hands. 

Thou didst also give me the shield of thy safety, 

And thy gentleness made me great. 

The first part of this song naturally refers to early and 
later troubles, and the last part to the later part of his life, 
and to his confidence in his future maintenance of his 
house : 

It is God that avengeth me, 

And that bringeth down the people under me, 

And that bringeth me forth from my enemies, 

Thou hast also lifted me up on high, 

Above them that rose up against me, 

Thou hast delivered me from the violent man ; 

Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, 

And I will sing praises unto thy name. 

He is the tower of safety for his king, 

And showeth mercy to his anointed. 

Unto David and to his seed forevermore. 

During this period of his life were written certainly two 
other psalms, the Seventy-first and the Thirty-seventh, both 
of which contain allusions to his old age. One of them, 
the Seventy-first, expresses the trembling trust with which 
earlier psalms begin, pleads against his enemies and warms 
into strong confidence at the end. 

In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust, 

Let me never be put to confusion, 

Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape. 

Incline thine ear unto me and save me. 



* See i Samuel xxvi. 23, for parallel language. 



SONGS IN OLD AGE. 

Be thou my strong habitation, whereun to I may con-viually i 

Thou hast given commandment to love me, 

For thou art my rock and my fortress. 

Deliver me, my God, out of the hands of the wicked ; 

Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man, 

For thou art my hope, O Lord God, 

Thou art my trust from my youth. 

By thee have I been holden up from the womb, 

Thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels. 

My praise shall be continually of thee. 

I am as a wonder unto many, 

But thou art my strong refuge, 

Let my mouth be filled with thy praise 

And with thy honor all the day, 

Cast me not off in the time of old age, 

Forsake me not when my strength faileth, 

For mine enemies speak against me, 

And they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together, 

Saying: " God hath forsaken him, 

Persecute and take him : for there is none to deliver him," 



409 



O God, thou hast taught me from my youth, 

And hitherto have I declared thy wondrous v/orks ; 

Now, also, when I am old and grey-headed, O God, forsake me not ! 

Until I have showed thy strength unto this generation, 

And thy power to every one that is to come. 

Thou who hast showed me great and sore troubles, 

Shall quicken me again, 

And shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. 

My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long. 
For they are confounded, for they are brought to shame 
That seek my hurt. 

The other psalm, the Thirty-seventh, is a psalm of instruc- 
tion and exhortation against evil-doers, and against the irrita- 
tion which arises from their apparent success — such a didac- 
tic psalm as a wise old man might properly give to a younger 
generation, and put into their lips as a familiar chant. 

Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, 

Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity, 

For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, 

And wither as the green herb. 

Trust in the Lord, and do good ; 

So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. 

Delight thyself also in the Lord, 

And he shall give thee the desires of thy heart. 



4 1 FIP T Y- THIRD S UNDA Y. 

Commit thy way unto the Lord ; 

Trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass, 

And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, 

And thy judgment as the noon-day. 

For evil-doers shall be cut off, 
But those that wait on the Lord, 
They shall inherit the earth. 

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, 

And He delighteth in his way. 

Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. 

For the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. 

I have been young, and now am old ; 

Vet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, 

Nor his seed begging bread. 

I have seen the wicked in great power, 
And spreading himself like a green bay-tree. 
Yet he passed away and lo, he was not ; 
Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. 
Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, 
For the end of that man is peace, etc. 



Jfifb-foxtrflj Stmirag. 



THE CENSUS AND THE PESTILENCE. 



LESSON. 

2 Samuel xxiv. ; i Chronicles xxi. ; xxvii. 23, 24 ; 2 Chronicles iii. 1. 

THE whole wide dominion was at length in the benig- 
nant dawn of a long and peaceful day. But even in 
the very dawn, luxury began its natural influence. Van- 
ity, pride, formalism, and a sensuous life were dissipating 
and degrading the spiritual life of the people. The king 
himself after all, in his survey of the mighty results in the 
power, populousness, and wealth of his kingdom, was 
elated with a personal pride. It was necessary, therefore, 
that both ruler and people should be chastened, were they 
to enter healthfully into the greater grandeur of Solomon. 
God determined to humble, therefore, king and people. 
This he did by permitting their sin of heart to have its 
natural growth into outward transgression and outward 
punishment. Without any due respect to the glory of 
God, the king entered on a vain-glorious reckoning of his 
power, and involved his people in it. So that a national 
census became the open index of a great sin and of its 
punishment. 

According to the stand-point of the writer, the instiga- 
tion to this sin arose from God or from Satan. In the 
records of Samuel, it is " the anger of the Lord was kin- 
dled against Israe/, and he moved David against them," 

(411) 



4 1 2 FIF T Y-FO UK TH S UNDA Y. 

that is, he permitted David to do so.* In the record of 
Chronicles it is, " And Satan stood up against Israel," 
that is, he was permitted to be the exciting cause, " anc 1 
provoked David," by operating through his luxury and 
power to excite his pride. 

The census had in itself nothing wrong. Such an enu- 
meration had been more than once made — indeed, ordered 
by God himself under Moses. There was then, however, 
a high religious use for it.f David evidently had no relig- 
ious purpose in his order ; no plan for the support of the 
Sanctuary by collection of atonement-money. There was 
in some form a willful and worldly scheme at the foundation 
of it. J Joab saw this spirit of the king's order. Whether 
he looked at it from the worldly side or the spiritual side, 
he saw no good in it. He esteemed it either impolitic or 
absolutely bad. And when he said, " No matter how 
many the people be : the Lord multiply them a hundred- 
fold : why take delight in this thing ?" He implies that it 
was for personal gratification that David was doing it. 
It was a virtual contempt of the Lord's declaration that 
he would make his people innumerable. 

The king was in no mood to be overruled by Joab. 
He was too conscious of affluence of power or too set on 



* "In i Chronicles xxi. i, the statement is, And an adversary 
(not Satan as in the authorized version, since there is no article 
prefixed as in Job i. 6, 7, 8, etc.) stood up, etc., just as first 
Hadad and then Rezan is said to have been an adversary (Satan) 
to Solomon and to Israel. Hence the text, 2 Samuel xxiv. 1, 
should be rendered, 'For one moved David against them.'" — 
Speaker's Commentary . 

f Read the law in Exodus xxx. 11-16. 

% "The history of the numbering of the people implies the 
purpose of some act of despotism, a poll-tax or conscription, 
such as startled all his older and more experienced counsel, 
lors." — Phimtre. 



THE CENSUS AND THE PESTILENCE. 413 

the self-exaltation of his mighty power among the nations. 
Joab was compelled to take his officers and go. The 
captains of the host went with him through the land ; the 
rulers of the people, in their tribes and cities, no doubt, 
making up their reports — not half-shekels in the columns, 
but a mere enumeration of warriors from twenty years 
old. 

Joab and the captains began their circuit straight across 
the Jordan, mounting to the high lands south of Heshbon, 
and passing up to Jezer, in which two places they received 
returns, no doubt, through rulers of hundreds and of thou- 
sands, from Reuben and the southern part of Gad. After 
they had remained there some month or so — for they took 
about ten months for ten tribes, and the outlying large 
tribes would, of course, require more time than the small 
tribes — they went on to Gilead. There they received the 
statistics from the northern part of Gad. 

Where the land of Tahtim-Hodshi was, no one knows.* 
As, however, they were on their way to Dan-jaan, we may 
assume that the region was in the lower part of Manasseh. 
Joab and his officers cross, therefore, the head-waters of 
the Yarmuk, taking a wide circuit through Manasseh — 
visiting probably the outlying garrisons at Tibhath and 
Damascus. We may suppose that some four months were 
consumed in this outlying, wide-spread east country. The 
attention of all the people was directed to the scheme and 
its progress. From Tahtim-Hodshi — wherever it was — 
to Dan-jaan and to Zidon, the census-takers crossed the 
extreme north limit of the land, and thence took their 
orderly way southward, passing down the sea-coast to 
Tyre, estimating the strength of the northern Hivites, or 
of the four Gibeonite cities perhaps as Hivites, gathering 
the military valuation of the midland tribes, of the old 



• " This name is a puzzle to all interpreters 



4 1 4 FIFT Y-FO UR Til S UNDA Y. 

Canaanite lands, and cities now subjugated, and ending in 
Simeon at Beersheba and Ziklag. The Levites Joab would 
not number ; they were not warriors ; they had not been 
required to pay the half-shekel ; they should not be reck- 
oned for vain-glory. The Benjamites, too, he would not 
reckon; "it was small enough, the proud, little tribe; 
why count it and compare it ?" For, before he had fin- 
ished — perhaps before he returned on his round to Benja- 
min — "there fell wrath" on the nation, and the census 
was really never ended. The sums-total were probably never 
made up for preservation, except in a rough way ; they 
were never put into the official chronicles. In the rough, 
round numbers of the two books of Samuel and of Chroni- 
cles, there is a difference of many thousands in the enumer- 
ation. A rough enumeration — not counting Benjamin — 
made the warriors of Israel eight hundred thousand, and 
of Judah five hundred thousand, or one million three hun- 
dred thousand in all. Or, taking the other estimate, there 
were one million one hundred thousand warriors of Israel, 
and four hundred and seventy thousand warriors of Judah, 
or one million five hundred and seventy thousand in all.* 
This showed a population of from five to seven millions for 
the whole land. Considering all the wars, servitudes, and 
internal conflicts during the generations, this was a great 
increase from the six hundred and one thousand warriors and 
three millions of people under Moses on the plains of Moab. 
Perhaps it was just this comparison which David wished 
to make, which constituted his sin. As Moses just before 
his death made such an enumeration, so he would make 
an enumeration before his death. There was a reason 
for commandi?ig Moses to do it, for the people under 

* The standing army of 288,000 (12 courses of 24,000 each) 
may account in round numbers for this difference ; or the tribes 
of Levi and of Benjamin may have been estimatcdhy one writer 
and excluded by the other. 



THE CENSUS AND THE PESTILENCE. 415 

Joshua would need for their conquest the consciousness 
of numbers and the demonstration of God's increase since 
they came from Egypt. There was a reason fox forbidding 
David to do it, for the people under his successor would 
have no conquest to make, and needed protection from 
the vanity of glory. Moses' enumeration under the com- 
mand of God, set the nation on a true career. David's 
enumeration, without consultation with God, was in dan- 
ger of setting the nation on a false career — of turning 
their attention from the spiritualities of a future temple, 
to the low temporalities of common national emulation 
and display. 

Probably it was while the census was in progress that 
David's conscience smote him. He began to see his real 
motive. He saw the real tendency. He was transgressing 
the letter and spirit of the Mosaic law. He was not seeking 
the real good of his people, nor good for himself, nor the 
ends which God's goodness seeks, but a trivial gratification 
indifferent to the good of the people, obtained at great 
outlay before the people, and regardless of an example 
which would corrupt all public and private virtue. Enticed 
by this blandishment of a subtle pride, he might be lead- 
ing his people upon the hard, high, cruel road of foreign 
conquest for vain-glory. Some such thoughts as these, 
we may suppose, began to stir in him, before Joab came 
to the last tribes. With some superficial consciousness of 
his sin, David confessed his guilt unto God, praying for for- 
giveness — a private confession for a sin now public and al- 
ready publicly corrupting the people — a consciousness 
which needed to be deepened into a profound contrition for 
this Absalom-like sin of his old age. The people, too, have 
so eagerly committed themselves to these trivial and vain 
motives — the origin of horrid, ambitious, and cruel wars 
the world over— that the tendency in them must be thor- 
ough lv corrected. 



4 l6 FIFTY-FO UR TH SUNDA Y. 

His chosen personal prophet came to the king, there- 
fore. Again on his divan or on his housetop, early in the 
morning, he received him, ready for his solemn message. 
There is no need of a parable as when Nathan came. 
"Three things," said Gad, — himself solemnly impressed 
with his fearful message — " God instructs me to offer thee : 
seven years of famine in the land ; flight three months 
before your enemies ; three days pestilence ; choose thee. 
I will carry back thy answer." Reduction of numbers, 
this was involved in either choice. Humiliation of pride, 
this was involved. The punishment meets exactly the 
motive and the form of the sin. Reduction by his own 
choice, by famine, or war, or pestilence — a terrible and 
humiliating choice ! 

Probably the pestilence was the best choice for the 
people, as well as for himself. Better for the nation three 
days pestilence than seven years of Egyptian famine. Better 
too, no doubt, for the people, three days pestilence, than 
the whole land harried by domestic revolution, the founda- 
tions of the kingdom moved under the spectacle of the 
aged king chased by Benjamites, or Ephraimites, or 
Syrians. How easily the terrors under Absalom might be 
repeated, the attempt of his son Adonijah would shortly 
show. David too might hope that mercy would be divinely 
exercised before the pestilence should spend its force. 
He knew, too, the mellowing influence of affliction. 

At the choice, on the morning, the pestilence began. 
Seventy thousand died within the three days, throughout 
all the tribes : that is, from one-seventieth to one-hundredth 
part of the whole population.* Jerusalem was about to 



* " It is the most destructive plague recorded as having fallen 
on the Israelites. In the plague that followed the rebellion of 
Korab, there died 14,700 persons ; in the one that followed the 
idolatry of Baalpear, 24,000 persons. The angel, however, that 



THE CENSUS AND THE PESTILENCE. 



417 



be destroyed, so great was the anger of God against the 
people's self-complacent forgetfulness of him. The angel 
charged with execution stopped outside the eastern wall. 

Meanwhile inside the city there was humiliation and 
grief. King and elders had clothed themselves in sack- 
cloth, and were no doubt offering sacrifices in the taber- 
nacle. David's eyes were opened to see the angel's sword 
uplifted over the city, and he was greatly afraid. 

And now, in the infliction of justice, comes out the 
merciful far-reaching purposes of God. Out of the depth 
of his grief, the king cried to Him, " It is I who am guilty. 
I commanded the enumeration ; why let thy wrath fall on 
these sheep? On me, on my house, let the blow fall, not 
on the people." That day came Gad the prophet, with a 
message, " Go set up an altar on the threshing-floor of 
Araunah the Jebusite. There will Jehovah meet thee." 

Araunah or Oman was, it may be, king of Jebus, or 
some subordinate sheikh of the old Jebusites, who still 
held his possession outside the city wall. It may be that 
he had long lived with the people of Judah and Benjamin, 
who had dwelt for many years with the Jebusites in that 
part of the city. He, too, had had his eyes opened to the 
presence and attitude of the angel. His four sons as well 
as himself, awed at the sight, hid themselves. Perhaps 
they all had hitherto refused to yield this piece of land. 

Soon as they looked out from behind the sheaves, they 
saw coming king David in person, and his servants, with 
the form and dignity of an important errand. Araunah 
goes to meet them with oriental prostration. " Wherefore 
is my lord the king come to his servant ? " " To stay the 



smote Sennacherib's army, destroyed iS5,ooo persons in one 
night. Diodorus Siculus (quoted by Thenius) relates a plague 
in the Carthagenian army before Syracuse, which carried off 
100,000 men." 



4 1 8 FIF T Y-FO UR TH S UNDA Y. 

plague by the Lord's direction. The Lord directs an altar 
on this threshing-floor. I will give thee a full price. Sell 
it to me, and the plague shall be stayed." The purchase 



Gate. 

/ , pr ^ 

| TOH r Elh 
' OF 





| uppeh 

C I T Y. 




W/ m!iw< 



The outside wall of this outline represents the location of the oldest walls, ac- 
cording to opinions based on the recent explorations at Jerusalem. The diagram 
maybe taken as a conjecture in respect to the appearance of the city in David's 
later life. Compare it with the outline of Jebus on page 208. It will be seen 
that the two diagrams give different theories in respect to the location of the 
Upper City, the Lower City, Zion and the City of David. 



and sale are conducted in truly oriental form, but with a 
royal bearing on each side — Araunah offering oxen and 
threshing instruments, and wheat as they stand, for sacri- 



THE CENSUS AND THE PESTILENCE. 



419 



fice and offering. As the gift of a king to a king, did he 
nobly offer them, saying : " Jehovah thy God accept thee.'.' , 
More noble is the lofty reply of the aged king, " Burnt- 
offerings at such a time as this, should be with cost. 
Neither land nor oxen will I accept but with a price." 
Fifty shekels of gold, or six hundred shekels of silver, 
was his royal price,* freely given. Whether this place be 
the true Mount Moriah or not, there David, like Abraham 
of old, built an altar and laid the wood in order, and laid 
the oxen on the wood, and called upon the Lord for par- 
don and salvation. There the Lord answered by fire from 
heaven, and there the angel put up his sword into his 
sheath. 



* " The explanation by Bochart may possibly be true, that the 
fifty shekels here mentioned (2 Samuel xxiv. 24) were gold 
shekels, each worth twelve silver shekels, so that the fifty gold 
shekels are equal to the six hundred silver, and that our text 
should be rendered, 'David bought the threshing-floor and the 
oxen for money, viz. : fifty shekels,' and that the passage in 
Chronicles should be rendered, 'David gave to Oman gold 
shekels of the value (or weight) of six hundred shekels.'" — 
Speaker s Commentary. 



Jfifb-fiftlj Smtiraj. 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE FUTURE TEMPLE. 



LESSON. 

i Chronicles xxii., xxiii., xxiv., xxv., xxvi. i-28,xxviii. 11-21, xxix. 2-5, vi. 31-48 ; 
2 Samuel viii. 8-12. 

BROUGHT back now into a healthy state of mind, the 
king turned his attention from personal glory to the 
material glory of the Lord. For long years he had been 
accumulating materials for the temple. From that day — 
about the fourteenth year of his reign — when he knew 
that his son would build a temple, he had kept the future 
building in mind. Many a time, on his distant marches, 
had his thoughts revolved around its proportions. Many 
a night, in tent and palace, had his poetic fancy pictured 
its glories. From Zobah and Syria and Amnion and 
Moab, from Philistines and Amalekites, had he selected 
precious stones out of gathered spoils. What Saul him- 
self had dedicated to the throne and kingdom, David had 
rededicated to the future house. And now, in a vigor- 
ous old age, he takes up these accumulations, and the 
whole order of the service also, to put them into a worthy 
form for the temple and for future ages. We conceive of 
him, therefore, as passing in review, one by one, the dif- 
ferent parts of the preparation, completing defects, and 
correcting errors so far that Solomon could enter on the 
(420) 



PREPARATIONS FOR FUTURE TEMPLE. 



421 



plans early in his reign. Let us take up the different 
things prepared : 

1. Materials. There was an ample preparation and of 
different kinds. 

Stone. — Both the foundation of the building and of the 
building itself, was to be built of stone. From the two 
kinds of limestone on which Jerusalem is situated, the 
blocks were undoubtedly quarried, of all sizes, from the 
large block measuring nearly a score of cubic yards, to 
the short-dressed ashlar : some from the upper bed of the 
very hard, compact stone — in color from white to reddish 
brown — which the Arabs now call " mezzeh," and some 
from the lower bed of soft, white stone — a smoky and 
dark grey — which ' they now call " melekah." Special 
stones of smaller size may have been brought on the 
backs of camels from the bed at the south-east corner of 
the Salt Sea, or by float and camel from the mouth of the 
Arnon opposite Engedi. Sandstone in quite a variety of 
colors is found in those places. 

Marble stones in abundance were procured from Leba- 
non,* or from Arabia, or even from Persia. 

We do not read that any stone was brought at this time 
from the ranges back of Tyre. Under the directions of 
Tyrians, skilled in hewing stone, many of the old Amor- 
ites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusitesf were oc- 
cupied no doubt about Jerusalem during the later days of 
David, in quarrying the beds, sawing^ the blocks, and 
dressing the courses. 

Timber. — The cedars of Lebanon were then, as now, 



* The Hebrew word translated " marble," may mean only 
" shining stone ;" such as the " Jura limestone " of Lebanon — 
the same as that out of which the Temple of the Sun at Baalbec 
is made. 

f See 1 Kings ix. 20, 21. % 1 Kings vii. 9. 



422 



FIFTY-FIFTH SUNDA Y. 



the noblest trees for grandeur or for timber. " Beams of 
cedar and rafters of fir "* were the highest style of luxury. 
The people of Sidon and of Tyre had already found a 
ready market for this timber at Jerusalem, occasioned 
probably by David's employment of Hiram on his house. 
We do not suppose that David ordered the timber hewed, 
or sawed, or dressed into plates and sills and boards, but 
that he simply began to make ready the trees themselves 
in the mountains — to select and mark them and cut some 
of them, so that there might be no delay when the reign 
of his successor should begin. 

Iron mid Brass. — Whence came the iron and the brass 
which David purposed without weight ? The iron was 
probably either smelted out of the basalt, or was brought 
out of Assyria, or was the accumulations from long-con- 
tinued and widely-extended traffic and conquest. The 
" brass " was not our compound of copper and zinc, but 
more properly copper or bronze (copper and tin). The 
ores from which it was smelted were probably found in the 
tribe of Asher,f or the metals themselves gathered from 
subjugated cities like Tibhath and Berothai. For sixty 
years or more confiscated idols, vessels, utensils, weapons, 
shields, cymbals, curiosities, had been preserved by Sam- 
uel, Saul, Abner, Joab, and David, and now made a great 
store of metal. J 

Silver and Gold. — The growing wealth of the nation 
could furnish now the generous abundance of silver and 
gold which David supplied. The Hebrews have always 
been a money-getting people, fond of ornaments made of 



* Song of Solomon i. 17. 

f Compare Deuteronomy viii. 9, with xxxiii. 25, margin. 

% See xxvi. 27, 28. It was evidently a practice more or less 
in use to consecrate spoils to religious use. See Numbers xxxi. 
50-54. 



PREPARATIONS FOR FUTURE TEMPLE. 423 

these metals, and able to procure them. A hundred thou- 
sand talents of gold, after making every reduction made 
necessary by changes in the value of the talent or by mis- 
takes in transcribing the Hebrew text, must have amounted 
to some eighteen millions of dollars ; and a million talents 
of silver must have been equal to about the same amount.* 

We shall see also that King David gave also special 
gold for special use out of his own private treasure. These 
metals were for temple vessels and utensils. He had had 
it weighed for each class of articles — gold for candlesticks, 
lamps, flesh-hooks, bowls, cups, tables of shew-bread, and 
altars of incense ; silver for tables, basins, candlesticks, etc. 

Precious Stones. — These were for ornamentation or for 
symbolization in the priests' dress : onyx-stones and spark- 
ling-stones of various kinds and colors — for example, the 
onyx and the sard-onyx (cornelian), the amethyst (rose 
quartz), the agate, the topaz, the carbuncle, the emerald, f 
and the coral — procured from merchants or dealers from 



* " It is no doubt true that we do not know the value of the 
Hebrew talent at this period; and it is therefore just possible 
that these numbers (xxii. 14) may be sound. But in that case we 
must suppose an enormous difference between the pre-Babylon- 
ian and the post-Babylonian talents — such a difference as is most 
improbable. Estimated according to the value of the post-Baby- 
lonian Hebrew talent, the gold here spoken of would be worth 
more than one thousand millions of our pounds sterling, while 
the silver would be worth about four hundred millions. Accu- 
mulations to any amount like this are, of course, quite inconceiv- 
able under the circumstances, and we must therefore either sup- 
pose the talent of David's time to have been little more than 
one-hundredth part of the later talent, or regard the verse as aug- 
mented at least one hundred fold by corruption of the text. Of 
the two, the latter is certainly the more probable supposition." — 
Speaker s Commentary. 

f See xxvi. 20-2S. These stones, and others, Josephus de- 
scribes as belonging to the high-priests' breast-plate. See Eze- 
kiel xxvii. 16. 



424 FIFTY-FIFTH SUXDA Y. 

the East, or handed down as souvenirs and heir-looms for 
generations. The robes of the kings themselves, like the 
breast-plate of the priest, were no doubt covered with bril- 
liant gems. Over all these dedicated things, Shelomith 
had been appointed as keeper and superintendent, with 
fellow-Levites as assistants. 

2. A plan for- the temple. Although David was not 
to build the temple, he was to have the satisfaction of 
preparing the plan as well as the material for it. Some 
parts of this plan — the improvements or the amplification 
of the original form of the tabernacle — were communi- 
cated unto him by the spirit of God. The general plan, 
as an examination of the temple under Solomon shows, 
was the ground-plan of the tabernacle. Around a holy 
and most holy place, was a court, or courts. The ancient 
pattern given in the wilderness furnished the essential 
general ideas, but, with adornment and enrichment, the 
new was to surpass the old, as a house surpasses a tent. 
The building was to take its place as a permanent and 
mighty educator. It was to stand during the changes of 
generations and the shock of armies, as the powerful con- 
server of the people's attachment to holy things. 

Observe the things of which David had a pattern 
revealed to him : a porch, with houses for priests and 
Levites, no doubt : treasuries and upper chambers and 
inner parlors in the porch : the courts outside, with cham- 
bers and treasuries, and " treasuries or store-houses for the 
dedicated things." These court-chambers were, we sup- 
pose, the places for the priests in their twenty-four courses, 
and others were proper rooms for keeping the sacred ves- 
sels, or rooms for cleaning the hooks, bowls, cups, basins, 
etc., not in use in ordinary times. Gold, specially re- 
fined, was prepared also for the incense-altar and for the 
cherubim of the holiest place. 

The declaration that " the Lord made me understand 



PREPARATIONS FOR FUTURE TEMPLE. 425 

in writing all this by his hand upon me," may mean either 
that lie was divinely guided in studying the Mosaic model, 
or that he was specially inspired to write out the details of 
the enlargement. 

David's preparation, however, did not stop with the out- 
ward material. His plan took in, also, the conception of 
worship in the temple. The fundamental ideas of the 
sacrifices were not, of course, to be changed, but the praises 
.and smaller arrangements which surrounded these sacrifices 
might be set into such proportions as to exalt the sacrificial 
system itself. 

3. The Levites. The Levites over thirty years of age 
were twenty-four thousand, separated to the sacrificial ser- 
vice, four thousand more for porters and four thousand 
more for musicians, making thirty-two thousand. Beside 
these there were six thousand appointed to the judicial and 
legal offices in the Levitical cities of the land ; to give in- 
struction in the law, the service, etc. — a careful and beau- 
tiful provision where the printing-press had not yet come. 
The twenty-four thousand had their regular months of resi- 
dence at home and their regular time at Jerusalem.* Some 
of the Levites were between twenty and thirty years of 
age.f They also were attendants on the priests in the 
preparation of the chambers and courts, in preparing the 
bread, flour, cakes, etc., in praising and sacrificing, in 
keeping the appointments for Sabbaths, moons and feasts, 
and in general charge of the holy house. David had now 
had twenty-five years experience of the wants of an orderly 
and elaborate service, and could enter into the spirit of 
perfecting every arrangement ■ and as many of the Levites 
no longer had the work of " carrying," new duties were 
devised. 

The Levites were divided, as from the beginning, ac- 



* See Luke i. 5, 8, 9, 39, 40, 65. f xxiii. 27-32. 



426 FIFTY-FIFTH SUNDA Y. 

cording to the patriarch Levi's sons, into Geshonites, 
Kohathites and Merarites. Aaron and his descendants, who 
only were priests, were in the Kohathite line. In other 
departments of Levitical service, such as singing, instru- 
mental music and the work of the porters, the Kohathites 
were eminent. They took their places, Kohathites and 
all — fathers and younger brethren, in their orderly turn 
of the extensive service, by lot. A few of them were the 
king's scribes — copyists, recorders, historians, private sec- 
retary, registrar of the courses and lots, etc. In their home 
cities, they had no doubt charge of manuscript copies of 
the law — they copied the rolls — they stood to the people in 
the place of numerous books and unfolded the meaning 
of the sacred writings. 

Porters. — The four thousand porters must also have 
been divided into their regular courses. Twenty-four 
courses would give about one hundred and sixty-six to 
each course. Probably the distribution was such that 
many more than a single course would be in attendance 
at the great feasts. The gates were assigned to keepers by 
lot, six each day to the east gates, four to the north, four 
to the south, " towards Asuppim two and two," and at 
Parbar westward, four at the causeway and two at Parbar. 
Other porters brought the wood, carried out the skins and 
offal, the ashes, etc., transported the utensils, brought in 
the water, received first-fruits, stored the provisions which 
were the perquisites of the sacred office — all in order. 

Musicians. — From the four thousand musicians, were no 
doubt taken freely as many as were desired for grand occa- 
sions. But there were two hundred and eighty-eight who 
were select, skilful and specially instructed. Over these 
were Asaph of the Gershonite line, Ethan or Jeduthun of 
the Merarites and Heman of the Kohathites. This select 
choir, composed of teachers and scholars, was divided into 
twenty-four companies or sub-choirs of twelve each, who 



PREPARA TIONS FOR FUTURE TEMPLE. 



427 



also took their turns by lot and who probably had some 
flexible mode by which they assisted each other in their 
important service. Heman is called the King's Seer " in the 
matters of God to lift up the horn." He was probably the 
king's counsellor in musical matters, for he was first of the 
three leaders, with Asaph on the right hand and Ethan on 
his left. (vi. t>Zj 39? 44-) He is called pre-eminently " the 
singer " or " the musician." An inspiration to the choirs 
and choruses, he must have been, with his fourteen sons 
and three daughters around him, with their mature and 
young voices, trained by their father, and accompanied by 
cymbals, psalteries, harps and the grand chorus ! 

4. The Priests. Moses' position was special. He was 
a lawgiver, who was a priest in an exalted sense, but not 
a formal and ceremonial high-priest. Aaron and his descend- 
ants only were priests. Of Aaron's four sons, two were 
stricken with death. The whole priesthood therefore 
descended from Eleazar and Ithamar. The high priesthood 
continued in the house of Eleazar — through Phinehas — 
until Eli, who belonged to Ithamar' s line. The high- 
priesthood continued then in Ithamar s line through David's 
life, until it was restored to the Eleazar line by the execu- 
tion of the sentence on Eli's house, when the office was 
restored to Eleazar' s house in the person of Zadok. Abia- 
thar and Zadok were the chief of the priests. Abiathar, 
who fled from Nob when his father was slain, and who came 
bringing the ephod to David, continued the fast friend of 
David, throughout all his wanderings. Zadok, of the Eleazar 
line, who had adhered to Saul during David's wandering, but 
who came over to David at Hebron with twenty-two cap- 
tains of his princely house, had been faithful to David even 
at Jerusalem under Absalom, was the first to bring the 
king back, and was the highest in the Eleazar line and 
ruler over all the " Aaronites." 

Under these two leaders, the priests were divided into 



428 FIFTY-FIFTH SUNDA Y. 

twenty -four courses, but the Eleazar side had sixteen 
and the Ithamar side only eight. The twenty-four courses 
of Levites were no doubt intended to match these twenty- 
four courses of priests, as the twenty-four courses of singers 
and musicians were intended to match both. But while the 
courses of the Levites were distributed for residence and for 
instruction into all the tribes, the courses of the priests for 
residence were distributed only in three tribes. They had 
thirteen cities, eight of which were in the hill-country 
of Judah, and four in Benjamin. They were there- 
fore all near at hand to the sanctuary for their labors 
for any occasion of consequence. The period of their ser- 
vice too was probably shorter than that of the Levites. 
Probably each course served only for one week " coming 
in on the Sabbath and going out on the Sabbath." (2 
Chronicles xxiii. S.) Their work was more difficult and 
more laborious than that of the Levites. " Assisting the 
high-priest, they were to watch over the fire on the altar 
of burnt-offering and to keep it burning evermore both by 
day and night, to feed the golden lamps outside the vail 
with oil, to offer the morning and evening sacrifices, each 
accompanied with a meat-offering and drink-offering at the 
door of the tabernacle. These were the fixed, invariable 
duties, but their chief function was that of being always at 
hand to do the priest's office for any gulity or penitent or 
rejoicing Israelite. The worshiper might come at any 
time, " a rich man with a bullock, a poor man with a 
pigeon, a mother, a husband, a leper, a nazarite." Any 
priest might be present at any time to offer assistance, if 
he did not interfere with those serving in the regular place. 
During the twenty-three weeks (nearly six months) during 
which they were absent, or during the shorter interval of 
absence when they were called up to the great feasts, they 
were occupied, we suppose, in teaching the law, in pro- 
phetic labors, at schools of the prophets, as judicial ad- 



PREPARA TWNS FOR FUTURE TEMPLE. 429 

visers, as judges of appeal, as special referees in special 
cases. 

All these arrangements had been growing, no doubt, into 
an order, during David's life, but now he sought to make 
the system complete, and adjusted them to the proprieties 
and the grandeur of that coming reign which was to be 
"rest" and "peace and quietness." 



Jxfig-sbtlj JSunirag. 



ADONIJAH'S CONSPIRACY. 



LESSON. 

i Kings i. ; i Chronicles xxix. 27. 

KING DAVID was now on the eve of his seventieth 
year. It may be that he had already entered it. It 
was not a very advanced age. Moses died at one hundred 
and twenty ; Joshua at one hundred and ten ; Samuel 
probably at upwards of eighty ; Joab, hardly younger than 
David, outlived him. But the rough wear of military life, 
the marvellous energy and strain of his body, the family 
cares and afflictions, the public cares and civil commo- 
tions, had at length exhausted his extraordinary vigor. The 
ruddy boy was now an old man, his mind clear, but not 
strong, yet capable of resolute action, and his body 
wrinkled and withered and cold. Quite in accordance 
with the usages of polygamy, and the modern treatment of 
physicians in the East, David's physicians recommended 
that a young concubine be added to the royal harem, who 
should nurse the king, and prolong his valuable life by im- 
parting her health and warmth to his enfeebled system.* 
After the Oriental manner, as Esther was sought for King 



* The expedient recommended by David's physicians is the 
regimen prescribed in similar cases still in the East, particularly 
among the Arab population, not simply to give heat, but " to 
cherish," as they are aware that the inhalation of young breath 
will give new life and vigor to the worn-out frame. The fact of 
(43o) 



ADONIJAH' S CONSPIRACY. 431. 

Ahasuerus, the country was explored for the fairest damsel. 
She was found at Shunem, where the Philistines encamped 
before Saul's last battle, and was probably already known 
for her beauty as Abishag the Shunamite. 

Taking* advantage of the king's feeble and bed-ridden 
condition, Adonijah began to plan for himself. He was 
the oldest surviving son — Amnon having been slain by 
Absalom, Chileab, Abigail's son, having died, as we sup- 
pose, and Absalom having met his miserable fate. No law 
of succession has as yet been established in the Hebrew 
kingdom. It was well understood that Jehovah nominated 
the successor, and whether the law of the first-born would 
be adopted had not been made known. Neither the pious 
Jonathan nor his surviving brother Ish-bosheth was per- 
mitted to succeed Saul. Still, as the succession in David's 
family had been divinely approved, Adonijah and his 
abettors might reason that unless there is direction to the 
contrary, the ordinary family law of birthright is to be as- 
sumed.* 

the health of the young and healthier person being, as it were, 
stolen to support that of the more aged and sickly, is well 
established among the medical faculty. And hence the prescrip- 
tion for the aged king was made in a hygeian point of view for 
the prolongation of his valuable life, and not merely for the com- 
fort to be derived from the natural warmth imparted to his 
withered frame." — Dr. Jamieson. 

* " Side by side with what may be called the natural right of 
hereditary succession, there existed, especially in the East, a 
right, if not of absolutely designating a successor, yet at any rate 
of choosing one among several sons. Aligaltes designated 
Croesus ; Cyrus designated Cambyses, and Darius designated 
Xerxes. Herodotus even calls it ' a law of the Persians ' that 
the king should always appoint a successor before leading out an 
expedition. A still more obsolete right of nomination was ex- 
ercised by some of the Roman emperors, and occasionally by the 
caliphs.' ' — Speaker s Commen tary. 



4 32 FIFTY-SIXTH SUNDA Y. 

The promise to David that a son should build the tem- 
ple, seemed to signify a son that was to be. But this Ad- 
onijah might construe to mean not a son to be bom, but a 
son to arise. 

Adonijah was at least thirty-three years old, for he was 
one of the six sons born in Hebron ; more likely he was 
thirty-five or thirty-six years old, while Solomon could 
hardly have been more than twenty years of age. Ad- 
onijah was born shortly after Absalom, was beautiful, like 
his beautiful brother ; like him had been indulged by a 
busy and lenient father, and by his wilfulness and self-am- 
bition was as little fit to reign. He was suspicious of his 
own title to the succession, otherwise he would have in- 
vited Solomon to his feast. Very likely he cared little for 
the legal and divine conditions, but determined to be king 
by his own wisdom and will. 

Taking advantage, therefore, of the king's retirement 
and feebleness, he laid his plan. He gained Joab, whose 
spirit naturally agreed with the warlike and controllable 
Adonijah rather than with the calm and peaceable and reso- 
lute Solomon. Abiathar the priest, too, was ready to go 
with him, perhaps the more easily persuaded because 
Adonijah courted him, while under David's arrangement 
the line of Eleazar had more place as priests. With Joab 
and Abiathar, Adonijah gained enough of the captains and 
soldiers and of the priests to make a fair show. Like 
Absalom, he arrayed a retinue of state, composed of 
chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him — a 
personal retinue which might be esteemed becoming a 
prince. The next thing was to plan an occasion at which 
he could bring over a considerable body of the people, 
and he could be proclaimed with acclamation. Adonijah 
no doubt hoped for the assent or at least the acquiescence 
of the king. His father would not deny him ; and he esti- 
mated his father's disposition so well that he came quite 



ADO NI JAM'S CONSPIRACY. 433 

near succeeding. As the plan was to circumvent rather 
than to resist the king, there was no need of placing the 
occasion at a distance, as Absalom did at Hebron. A feast, 
therefore, was contrived at En-rogel, just below the city, 
within a half-mile of the walls, and within a mile of the 
gate. Thither, like Absalom, when he invited Amnon to 
the sheep-shearing, he invited his brothers, the king's sons; 
but he managed to evade Solomon in the invitation. His 
object was to give the festival the royal approval in the 
eyes of the people, and to reduce them into an enthusiasm 
for a new proclamation. There at the stone of Zoheleth 
— a stone by some supposed to have been used as a stone 
on which fullers or washerwomen pressed out the water 
after washing, at the well En-rogel — a place of resort near 
the city* — the feast was spread — a splendid open-air enter- 
tainment, in the midst of verdure, water, and probably 
shade, the fat cattle slain on the spot, with oxen and sheep in 
princely munificence for the multitude. The abundant 
provision shows that Adonijah had in his eye a surround- 
ing multitude of people. 

Zadok and Nathan had already taken the alarm. They 
and the loyal captain of the king's body-guard, Benaiah, 
were too loyal to be invited. Shimei and Rei (perhaps 
the same as Raddai), who have been supposed to be 
David's brothers, and other mighty men, were either so 
near to David's person, or so well reputed for their 
attachment, that they were passed by. 

Nathan was the first to move in counter-check. He 
knew that the king's purpose was that Solomon should be 



* " E. G. Shultz supposes the stone or rock of Zoheleth to be 
the steep, rocky corner of the southern slope of the valley of 
Hinnom, which casts so deep a shade. This neighborhood is 
still a place of recreation for the inhabitants of Jerusalem." — 
Keil. 



4 34 FIFTY-SIXTH SUKDA Y. 

his successor. He understood also the divine purpose. 
He knew too that David had communicated this purpose 
to Bathsheba, and had solemnly sworn to her that her son 
should take the throne. He further perceived that Adoni- 
jah' s adventure, though apparently so open, was conducted 
in entire secrecy so far as the king was concerned. He 
saw therefore that, if Adonijah should succeed, through 
.the aged king's reluctance to transfer the crown, or through 
his seclusion from outside activities, even if David's life 
was spared, Solomon would be looked upon as a dangerous 
claimant on the throne. Oriental jealousy would put in 
peril his life and the life of his mother, if the very first act 
of his reign would not be to destroy all the seed royal. 
Moved, therefore, either by divine impulse, or by his own 
wisdom under divine guidance, he hastens to the court. 
He sets before Bathsheba the perils of the hour ; that 
Adonijah is stealthily taking the throne ; that her son's 
life and her own are in danger ; that something must be 
done to arouse the king and compel him to declare pub- 
licly the succession. He has a plan. She shall go in 
and remind the king of his solemn oath, and show him. 
that Adonijah is attempting to outwit Solomon and the 
king too. He will come in and confirm her representa- 
tion ; and thus, without too sudden excitement, they will 
arouse him to what is transpiring and to action. She 
shall first move him by affection, and then he "will pre- 
sent the reasons of State. 

And now we have a picturesque oriental scene. We 
must represent to our minds the king's palace, enlarged 
on this side and on that by branching apartments, as 
his family and his court have increased, until the palace 
and its adjacent and connected buildings spread widely 
over the south-western hill of Jerusalem. In the king's 
own edifice, in an upper room connected with the inner 
court and its connections, reclines the aged king upon 



ADOXlJAirs CONSPIRACY. 435 

the ample divan, the keen eye still glittering from the sunken 
socket, the nervous life still resolute and decisive, but the 
body bearing marks of age and feebleness. Supported by 
mattresses and cushions in his corner, and covered with 
robes and shawls, the beautiful Abishai attends upon his 
wants ; wall and ceiling are rich with hangings, the floor with 
brilliant rugs, the divans with embroidery, the special places 
with rarities, taken as spoils or presented as gifts. Porters 
and ushers attend. Bathsheba enters, still bearing the 
traces of her early beauty, and prostrates herself before 
her lord. At his word, she rises, and at his demand for 
her wish, speaks as a woman confident of her royal lord's 
constancy to his purpose. She tells him of his oath ; she 
carries his mind by a single touch back to the days of 
God's promise to him. She declares to him that Adoni- 
jah, at En-rogel, where he may be seen almost from the 
palace top, is declaring himself king. He has a great 
feast ; the people are there ; the king's sons have been 
invited ; Joab and Abiathar are there ; Solomon is not 
invited, and all the people are in expectation of an 
announcement of the succession from the king. She 
points out to him, that if Adonijah succeeds by this occa- 
sion, without protest from the king, when he sleeps with 
his fathers, she, herself and her son, if they put forth the 
king's purpose, will be reckoned traitors to the crown. 

During her speech, the attendant announces : "Nathan 
the Prophet^ And as she finishes and withdraws with 
queenly obeisance, the prophet enters. Powerful mem- 
ories enter with him ; for with this wise and godly man 
on the house-top, David conferred, when he thought of 
building Jehovah's house, and from him heard the response, 
" The Lord will build thee a house !" " Not thou, but 'thy 
son to be. shall build the Lord's palace." As that grave 
man in his plain robes bowed before him, the king saw 
one who best knew the purposes of God with respect to 



436 FIF T y-SIX TH S UN DA Y. 

Bathsheba and the king's pledges to her. With what power 
of godliness and of sincere affection, then, did this 
younger man — still hardly beyond his prime — say to 
him : " My Lord, O king, hast thou declared Adonijah 
king ?" The lips which once uttered the parable of the 
ewe-lamb, then set before the king, Adonijah's feast, the 
increasing multitude, the guests invited, that the army 
and the priesthood are powerfully represented, and that 
in the midst of the festivity, the people are already be- 
ginning to hail Adonijah, king. But, he says, the Lord's 
prophet, the priest of the older line, the captain of the 
body-guard, the prince-royal, they have not invited. Has 
the king cha?igcd Ms purpose and kept it from his coun- 
sellors ? 

King David was not only quick to see, but to know 
what to do. " Call me Bathsheba," he directs. Nathan 
retires and she enters. With a royal gesture, he forbids 
her obeisance and she stands. What power and majesty 
and affection are there in his words to her who, of all others, 
had known the depth of his domestic and civil troubles, 
when he said to her: "As Jehovah liveth, who hath 
redeemed my soul out of all distress, as I swore unto thee 
by Jehovah, God of Israel, that thy son Solomon shall 
take my throne, so shall it be this very day." Then 
. she bowed in thanks and reverence, with stately salutation 
of blessing, low before him.* 

Even before she goes, the king gives order for Zadok 
and Nathan and Benaiah. They attend. His order is, 
"Take the royal body-guard; take the royal mule ;| take 



* " In the Assyrian sculptures, ambassadors are represented 
with their faces actually touching the earth before the feet of the 
monarch." — Speako-s Commentary. 

\ "The Rabbins tell us that it was death to ride on the king's 
mule without his permission." — Speakers Commentary. 



ADONIJAH' S CONSPIRACY. 437 

the sacred oil. Go down to Gihon ; put Solomon on the 
mule ; anoint him ; blow the trumpet ; proclaim Solomon 
king ; put yourselves under his authority, and conduct him 
to the throne. See that it is done for him whom I Jiare 
appointed king over Israel and over Judah." "Amen" said 
the soldier responding for the three. " Jehovah God of 
our king, say Amen also." "Jehovah be with Solomon 
as he hath been with thee, and make his throne greater 
than thy throne." 

Gihon was the place designated. It was probably on 
the west side of the city near the head of the valley of 
Hinnom.* Adonijah was at the foot of this valley, from 
a mile to a mile and a half away. The two places were 
thoroughly concealed from each other by the bend of the 
valley and its high, rocky sides. Gihon was quite near 
the gate — the Bethlehem gate. 

The departure of the Cherethites and Pelethites with 
the king's mule, and with Solomon the prince, with 
Zadok and Nathan, with priests and Levites, to this place, 
at a time when it was known that Adonijah was holding a 
feast below at En-rogel, and the news from the king, 
which they now took little pains to conceal, of course 
created commotion in the city. No sooner were they 
fairly at the place, than the people thronged out the gates. 
Then came the ceremony. Solomon was placed on the 
king's mule. A horn of sacred oil out of the tabernacle 
was produced by Zadok. A statement of the desire and 
the decree of David was made ; the solemn anointment, 
with solemn words, was performed by the priests ; the trum- 
pets were blown ; the hills rang ; and the people, led by 
the counsellors, shouted, " God save King Solomon !" 
Immediately the royal mule and royal rider were turned 
towards the city, the Levites struck up their flutes and 

* See map on p. 20S, 



433 FIFTY-SIXTH SUNDAY. 

pipes, and the increasing multitude entered the Bethlehem 
gate with a chorus of acclamation which drew forth the 
whole population, and swelled the rejoicing as they went 
home to the palace. 

A blast of the trumpet down the valley struck Joab's 
ear, alert to hear what would happen when Adonijah's 
attempt became known. "What is the noise in the city !" 
is his startled exclamation. Abiathar's son from the city 
soon tells the story, and adds that King David was not 
content till Solomon was publicly honored on his throne, 
and from his divan had given his solemn, patriarchal 
blessing of the whole transaction, as Solomon returned to 
him. 

Consternation struck the stoutest man at En-rogel. 
Every one was a traitor caught at that assembly ; if Solo- 
mon prove like many eastern monarchs, his end was come. 
Joab and Abiathar fled, perhaps to their homes in the 
city, perhaps to their homes in the tribes. Adonijah fled 
to the altar on the threshing-floor of Araunah. Solomon 
did not pursue him, but a guilty conscience. Word came 
to Solomon that Adonijah did not defy him, but feared 
him ; he asked his oath that he should not be slain. Solo- 
mon's answer is the first sign of his wise mind, revealing 
neither a weak magnanimity in time of elation, nor a 
rigid exaction of justice. " If he will show himself a loyal 
man, not a hair shall fall ; but if he attempt treason, let 
him know that he shall die." A pledge which the wise 
Solomon executed to the letter, in the death of i\donijah 
afterwards. With this message, Solomon's officers brought 
him to the king, and when he had made proper ceremo- 
nious acknowledgment of his royalty, the young king said, 
" Go now to thine house." 



Jfifttt-s^bmtlj Sttttfoag. 



JEHOVAH'S CHOICE. 



LESSON. 

i Chronicles xxiii. 1-2, xxviii. 1-2, xxix. 22 ; Psalm cxlv. 

THE sudden inauguration of Solomon little comported 
with the aged king's conception of the dignity due 
such an occasion. Solomon had only been made king in 
Jerusalem, and it was not only fitting, but essential, that the 
nation should participate and consent in the compact. 
There were grave matters, also, entrusted to the future 
reign, which should be well advanced by public solemni- 
ties before the nation. Solomon was a young man to be 
king over such a people — ten years younger than David 
when he began at Hebron. The kingdom needed to be 
compacted about him before the aged monarch should 
sleep. 

The king therefore determined on a grand national oc- 
casion in which God and his house should be honored, and 
in which Solomon should be crowned in solemnities more 
noble than the kingdom itself. The two things should be 
joined ; and Jehovah's chosen ruler should be inferior to 
the loftier glory of Jehovah's holy worship in all the earth. 

The royal decree was sent. The posts carried it in 
sealed letters, or special messengers announced the orders 
east and west and south and north to Eleazar in Reuben, 
to Iddo in Manasseh east, and Joel in Manasseh west, 
to Ishmaiah and Jerimoth in Zebulun and Naphtali, to 

(439) 



^40 FIFT YSE VENTH SUN DA Y. 

Omri and Hoshea in Issachar and Ephraim, to Shephatiah 
in Simeon, and to David's venerable mother, Elihu, in 
Judah. Hashabiah on the west side, and Jerijah on the 
east side, received orders for the special attendance of 
Levites. The news of the counter-plot against Adonijah 
at Jerusalem, and of the great assembly to inaugurate the 
new reign, would everywhere create excitement and inter- 
est. The twelve princes and the elders of their cities, the 
twelve captains and their regiments, or chosen companies 
out of their regiments, the treasurers and stewards over 
storehouses and tillage and orchards and flocks, the officers 
of special note, the military heroes and celebrities, were all 
invited. The people flocked in throngs. Caravans and ir- 
regular droves of oxen, sheep and lambs, with shouting 
drivers and calling shepherds blocked here and there the 
narrow paths. Every road of mountain and valley, every 
greeting of friends, every company and cavalcade were filled 
with talk of the old king's grand preparations for the future 
house, of the accumulations to be seen at Jerusalem, of 
the wisdom and the appearance of the young king, of 
Adonijah's defeat, of Joab and Abiathar's degradation, and 
their absence from the grand occasion, and of the wealth 
and power of the marvellous old king. King David had 
desired, too, that they come with gifts to offer, as in the 
days of building the tabernacle in the wilderness, for this 
more glorious house. Treasures of gold and of precious 
stones were in trusty hands in all tribal companies, for the 
golden dawn not only filled the eyes but commanded the 
possessions of the nation. Every room of every house in 
Jerusalem was full ; every house-top spread with booths 
and tents ; every available space in every street filled with 
temporary lodges ; every mountain round about Jerusalem 
spread with camps, especially over against Araunah's 
threshing-floor, where stood the new altar and the smok- 
ing, perpetual fire. 



JEHOVAH'S CHOICE. ^ l 

Somewhere near the palace on Zion was the first place 
of assembly when the day arrived. But as the grand con- 
vocation had even more respect to the Holy House than 
to the new Ruler, it would be properly appointed outside 
the walls on the threshing-floor purchased from Araunah. 
Held there, with materials lying on the hill and in the val- 
leys below, the words of David have great power. 

We can imagine the scene, as the hour arrives. Let us 
locate it at the threshing-floor. The priests have offered 
the customary sacrifices at the tabernacle on Zion, multi- 
plied in number from early dawn, presented by those who 
embrace the opportunity for themselves and to hallow the 
day. They sanctify also the day and the place, by un- 
usual sacrifice on the altar of the threshing-floor, for w r e 
must suppose that the daily burnt-offering had been 
. observed at that place since the time when David said : 
" This is the house of Jehovah, God of Israel ; and this 
is the altar of the burnt-offering for Israel." * The peo- 
ple are early at the place. The Levites increase in number 
as their special duties at the tabernacle successively end. 
The brilliant turbans and flashing robes of princes and 
elders of Ephraim and Judah outnumber the rulers of less 
powerful tribes. Grey-beards mingle with flowing black, 
and grave old faces with the ruddy and robust. Spears 
flash in the sun, and swords and scabbards clink against 
mail of armor, or stand stifly out, stuck through the broad, 
sash-like girdle. Singers and musicians, with scrolls of 
parchment — some well-worn copies of familiar psalms, and 
one at least a clean and new " Psalm for Solomon " — and 
harj^s and cymbals in singers' robes take their appointed 
places among the Levites ; and adventurous women not a 
few stand on the margin of the multitude. The cavalcade 
from the palace and tabernacle approaches. The Cherethites 



* I Chronicles xxii. I. 



442 



FIFTY-SEVENTH SUNDA Y. 



and Pelethites clear the way through the streets, and out- 
ward beyond the entrance to the main city.* The porters 
of the Levites keep clear a wider space from Araunah's 
hill westward to the intervening valley. As the head of 
the column dips into the little valley, the famous captains 
and mighty men appear : Adina, the Eznite ; Shimmah, 
the Harodite ; Abishai, Joab's brother ; Adina, the 
Reubenite, with the remnant of his thirty ; Ira, from 
Tekoa below Bethlehem ; Hesrai, from Carmel below 
Hebron ; one or two survivors of the eleven lion-like, roe- 
like Gadites, who joined David forty years before ; and 
Elhanan of Bethlehem, all veterans of the companies,f 
and chosen captains with them. The full company of 
musicians appears next, their voices swelling into a fuller 
chant, as their harps and cymbals issue from the wall — it 
maybe "damsels playing with timbrels "J among them — 
the full chorus of two hundred and eighty-eight led by 
Heman, Asaph, and Jeduthun. sendiilg upwards as the 
powerful volume of their song : 

For who is God save Jehovah, 
And who is a rock save our God ? 
Tt is God that girded me with strength, 
And made my way perfect. 



Thou gavest me the shield of thy salvation, 

And thy right hand held me up, 

And thy gentleness made me great. 

Thou didst make large my steps under me 

So that my feet did not slip. 

I pursued my enemies and overtook them, 

Nor did I turn back till I consumed them. 



* See maps on pages 208 and 418. 

f General lists cf David's valiant men are given in 2 Samuel 
xxiii., 1 Chronicles xi. and xxvii. Some of these valiants, like 
Abishai and Benaiah, we know were living at this time, and it 
is fair to suppose that some such number survived as those 
above described. 

% Psalm lxviii. 25. 



JEHOVAH'S CHOICE. 443 

For thou didst gird me with strength for the battle, 
Thou didst cause to bow, those that rose up against me. 

He is a tower of salvation for his king, 
And showeth mercy to his anointed, 
To David and to his seed for evermore. 

— From Psalm xviii. and 2 Samuel xxii. 



Next comes the royal mule, covered with brilliant mats and 
on him the Prince Royal already anointed, as David and Saul 
were first anointed by private direction, who is to be more 
solemnly anointed to-day, his splendid turban and broad 
girdle embroidered in colors by royal fingers, his robes 
dignifying his youthful person, his face a picture of 
beauty sobered by wisdom, or of wisdom enriched by the 
parental graces of David and Bathsheba. The Royal King 
keeps company next behind, his eye kindling anew, his 
face filled with majesty and spiritual thought, his lordly 
will bearing erect his feeble body amid its adornments, as 
his faithful mule bears him gently on. On the one 
side the army is represented by Benaiah in spear and 
corselet : on the other side, the priesthood by Nathan, 
whose prophecy first revealed the house royal and the house 
spiritual. The royal princes come next. Out of David's 
fifteen sons, eight or ten we may suppose alive and present. 
Shephatiah and Ithream born in Hebron thirty-three years 
ago ; Shimea, Shobal and Nathan, own brothers to Solo- 
mon, and the younger princes equal or inferior in age to 
their brother the king. Next come the officers of the 
court — Adoram the Chief Treasurer, Jehoshaphat the Re- 
corder, Sheva the Scribe, and Ira the Jairite, a chief ruler, 
Jonathan, David's uncle, the counsellor, and Jehiel, instruc- 
tor of the king's sons. Following all, were honorable citi- 
zens, and on every side, the multitude shouting at times, 
and waving their hands and greeting each other and the 
procession with every sign of joy. 

The head of the procession has already mounted the lit- 



444 FIFTY-SE VENTH S UN DA Y. 

tie hill and passed along its side within the multitude, out- 
side the altar and the priests. The youthful king dismounts 
at the bounds set by the Levites ; his aged father, supported 
by Nathan and Hushai or Benaiah, advances with the son 
towards the altar. The body-guard at the head of the 
procession have returned on the opposite of the grounds, 
and the singers are at their place over against the altar. 
Sacrifices have already been offered we must believe in the 
tabernacle, by direction of the king, for himself and family, 
but here they are renewed. Attendants bring in the oxen 
and rams and lambs — some for burnt-offerings and some 
for peace-offerings — the distinctive sin-offering being offer- 
ed before the vail of the tabernacle as a peculiarly holy 
sacrifice of atonement — as expressions of expiation, of 
self-dedication unto God, and of thanksgiving to Him. 
The aged monarch and the young lay their hands on the 
heads of the victims as they are delivered to the Levites, 
and for themselves and the .royal house, signify their con- 
secration to Jehovah, God of their fathers and of the 
nation. The Levites slaughter the animals and deliver 
them to the priests. The meat-offerings, or rather meal- 
offerings, of flour, oil and wine, accompany them, as they 
are variously offered on the great altar and on the sub- 
ordinate altars erected for the occasion. As the flames 
and smoke ascend, the great choruses of the singers strike 
in with solemn chants, such as these : 

The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; 

The world and they that dwell therein. 

For he hath founded it on the seas, 

And established it on the floods. 

Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lo'rd ? 

Or who shall stand in this holy place? etc. — Psalm xxiv. 

Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands : 

Sing forth the honor of his name : 

Make his praise glorious. 

Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works ! 

Through the greatness of thy power. 



JEHOVAH'S CHOICE. 445 

Shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. 

All the earth shall worship thee ; and shall sing unto thee ; 

They shall sing unto thy name, etc. — Psalm Ixvi. 

I will extol thee, my God, O king ; 

And I will bless thj r name for ever and ever. 

Every day will I bless thee ; 

And I will praise thy name for ever and ever. 

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised ; 

And his greatness is unsearchable. 

One generation shall praise thy works to another, 

And shall declare thy mighty acts. 

I will speak of the glorious honor of thy majesty, 

And of thy wondrous works. 

And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts ; 

And I will declare thy greatness. 

All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord ; 

And thy saints shall bless thee. 

They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, 

And' talk of thy power ; 

To make known to the sons of men his mighty deeds, 

And the glorious majesty of his kingdom. 

Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, 

And thy dominion endureth throughout all generations, etc. 

— Psalm cxlv. 

When the sacrifice was ended, during the latter part or 
the principal part of which, the enfeebled king has been 
seated on a divan of state, the king stood up upon his feet 
and made his address, every word and gesture in which must 
have made a profound impression upon the listening thou- 
sands as the wise, old warrior, king and psalmist, with the 
simplicity of a little child graciously says, " Hear me, my 
brethren and my people" 



JriftD-MSJrilj Sunirair. 



JEHOVAH'S HOUSE AND JEHOVAH'S 
BUILDER- 



LESSON. 

i Chronicles xxviii. 2-21 ; xxix. ; Psalm lxxh. 

OBSERVE now the principal parts of his address, doubly 
impressive, if uttered on the hill of Araunah, with the 
temple-materials collected around him. 

The House of God and its Builder. 

I. The first thing is not his successor; but the house 
of God. He rehearses the purpose of his early reign, to 
transfer the ark from curtains to a permanent house : the 
divine approval of the plan, but the divine refusal that 
himself shall do the work. (Verses 2 and 3.) 

II. God's sovereign choice in the kingship is to be hon- 
ored. Judah he has made chief tribe ; Jesse's house first 
of Judah ; and David before all the sons of Jesse. Such, 
says the king, was God's wish in respect to myself. So 
also out of my many sons, Jehovah hath chosen Solomon, 
and his wish is also my sovereign decree. He chose me 
for a man of war to subdue the nations : so his purpose 
m him whose name is Peace, is that he should build His 
Temple of Worship. (Verses 4-6.) 

III. His pledges and covenant of good, however, are 

(446) 



JEHOVAH'S HOUSE AND ITS BUILDER. 447 

dependent on your loyalty to God and to each other. 
Before the congregation of the kingdom and in the pres- 
ence of our God, I charge upon you the people, the com- 
mands of Jehovah, with respect to Him and His kingdom ; 
and you, my son, with a perfect heart and willing mind, 
serve the God of thy fathers. Thou canst not deceive 
him in the thoughts of thy mind — if you seek him, he will 
be found ; but though thou art the chosen seed, if thou 
forsakest him, he will cast thee off for ever. Abide both 
of you in this covenant with Jehovah ; and this good land 
shall be your children's for ever, and the throne will be 
for thy sons to all generations. (Verses 7-10.) 

IV. This house of God is to be thy great work, the house 
which shall be Jehovah's sanctuary, the construction of 
which is now delivered to thy wisdom and thy care. Then 
came the delivery to young Solomon as he stood forth, the 
plans of the future temple — in all its apartments within and 
without — the carefully prepared orders too for the courses 
of the Levites and priests, including the porters and sing- 
ers, carefully engrossed by his private scribes,' one or more 
of whom were ready with them at hand. Also at the king's 
bidding they produced also the schedule of the gold, with 
the things designated to which the gold was to be applied, 
and of silver, with the things to which the silver was to be 
applied, with the amount by weight in tables. These 
things, said the king, which are for the house of God, in 
written descriptions also, Jehovah hath made fully known 
to me, and the construction he hath delivered to you. 
Jehovah will not fail thee nor forsake thee, until thou dost 
finish the house of Jehovah. Have courage and be un- 
daunted, for it is the God who has been with my eventful 
life, who will be with thee in the time of peace. He will 
supply thee wisdom. The courses of the priests and Le- 
vites will assist thee to complete the service. Willing 
men, skilled for their work, will be ready for workmanship. 



448 FIFTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY. 

Princes and people will be ready at thy command. (Verses 
10-21.) 

V. He appeals to the people for their assistance. The 
work to be done is very great, a palace for Jehovah, not 
for Solomon. And he, whom only of my sons, God hath 
called younger than myself to the throne, and on whom 
God has put this burden, is tender. Therefore, have I, 
as your king, made all this preparation. But besides the 
public preparation, for the love which I bear, as a person, 
to the house of God, from my private substance do I con- 
tribute of the pure gold of Ophir, three thousand talents 
and seven thousand talents of silver to overlay the walls 
and for the refined work of the artificers. And you have 
not appeared from your tribes empty before the Lord ! 
Who then of you is willing to consecrate his substance 
and service unto the Lord ? (xxix. 1-5.) 

Forthwith, amid the silence, the fathers and princes of 
the tribes came forward, one by one, as they signified their 
gifts, placing the mat once under Jehiel, the special treas- 
urer's hand, or pledging their presentation before the 
needed time. — Zebadiah, the son of Asahel, or Ira from 
Tekoa, or the aged Eliab, whom Samuel first thought to 
be the king, for the tribe of Judah among the first, and 
Jaasiel, Abner's son, for the tribe of Benjamin not the 
last. The substance of the pledges and of the contribu- 
tions according to the present Hebrew and English text, 
amounted to : 

Talents. Drams. Equal to. 

Gold 5,000 10,000 $90,053,000 

Silver 10,000 00,000 18,000,000 

Brass 18,000 oo,coo 

Iron 100,000 00,000 

a sum total too magnificent ! * 



* The talent of gold is reckoned by Keil as equal to $18,000, 
and the talent of silver at $1,800. The " Speaker's Coramen- 



JEHOVAH'S HOUSE AND ITS BUILDER. 449 

Precious stones, too, were offered from those whose traffic 
with the east and south had procured them or who in- 
herited them as legacies in the family. Then burst forth 
new expressions of joy, which could only be expressed by 
songs of praise — psalms — at a signal from the chief musi- 
cian, and in which even David joined : 

sing unto the Lord a new song, 
Sing unto the Lord, all the earth, etc. 

— From Psalm xcvi. 
Arise, O Jehovah, into thy rest, 
Thou and the Ark of thy Strength. 
Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness, 
And thy saints with joy. 
For thy servant David's sake, 
Turn not away the face of thine Anointed. 

Jehovah hath sworn in truth unto David, 

He will not turn from it. 

Oi the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne, 

If thy children will keep my covenant 

And my testimony that I shall teach them, 

Their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore. 

For Jehovah hath chosen Zion, 

He hath desired it for his habitation. 

This is my rest for ever : here will I dwell ; for I have desired it. 

1 will abundantly bless her provision, 
I will satisfy her poor with bread ; 

I will also clothe her priests with salvation, 
And her saints shall shout aloud for joy. 



tary " says : " The word here translated dram is regarded by most 
critics as the Hebrew equivalent of the Persian daric or ordinary 
gold coin worth twenty-two shillings of our (English) money." 
This would make a total of over $108,000,000 for the silver and 
gold for 7,000,000 of people, or over $15 for each person, which is 
possible. The cost of our late war in the United States was over 
$2,300,000,000, and during the past ten years, over $700,000,000 of 
it had been actually paid by 40,000,000 of people. The receipts 
reported in 1873 and 1874 from internal revenue in the United 
States were $116,100,000, or $108,000,000 each year. This was the 
smaller part of the United States' tax, the whole of which is still 
mttch smaller than the additional State and county and town 
taxes. 



45<D FIFTY-EIGHTH SUNDA Y. 

There will I make the horn of David to bud, 
I have ordained a lamp for mine Anointed, 
His enemies will I clothe with shame ; 
But upon himself shall his crown flourish. 

— From Psalm cxxxii. 

At the end of the psalm or psalms, or other expressions 
of joy, the king in all his venerable dignity and simple 
piety, stands forth in the attitude of prayer — in a sublime 
and simple prayer of blessing and praise to God — in 
which the principal thoughts are : 

Ascriptions of Royal Attributes unto God, as King of 
Israel, and as universal and eternal King. (Verses 10, n.) 

Recognition of God as the source of all individual 
riches and honor and exaltation. (Verse 12.) 

Thanksgiving and praise. (Verse 13.) 

Expression of the humble dependence and insignificance 
of both earthly king and people. (Verses 14, 15.) 

Consecration of substance to God's house only as God's 
own possession. (Verse 16.) 

Declaration of the purity of the king's motive in the 
preparations and offerings, and of the king's joy at the 
people's willingness. (Verse 17.) 

Supplication that God would ever keep his honor and 
this purity of motive in the people's thoughts. (Verse 18.) 

Supplication for Solomon, that he may honor God, 
obey him and build the palace for which the provision 
has been made. (Verse 19.) 

Then the old king having performed his last public acts, 
the high-priest Zadok, who since Adonijah's attempt has 
occupied the highest place, and who that day had been 
formally anointed in the tabernacle — comes forth with the 
horn of sacred oil. Advancing to the young Solomon, he 
lifts the horn, and as he pours the fragrant ointment on 
his head, repeats some such solemn words as these : "Je- 
hovah, God of Israel, anointeth thee his king over his peo- 
ple, to keep and to defend his commandments, to build 



JEHO VA H'S HO USE A ND ITS B UIL DER. 4 5 x 

his house and to exalt his name before his chosen and in 
the eves of all the heathen world. Jehovah bless thee 
and keep thee. Jehovah make his face shine upon thee 
and be gracious unto thee. Jehovah lift up his counte- 
nance upon thee and give thee peace." 

As sacrifices were connected with the anointed of high- 
priests, we must suppose that Solomon's personal sacrifices 
had already been made at the tabernacle, or that he so 
participated in the sacrifices at that place, that they were 
considered his. Then followed, we may think, that special 
psalm composed by David for Solomon,* and most nobly 
appropriate to such a time as this — a psalm composed 
by David when in high spiritual meditation on God's 
promise to his seed, and on the inestimable excellence of 
that Messiah who was to appear as the Great King of his 
Line. With this psalm prepared for the anointment, in the 
hands of the choruses of singers, and all the people in 
expectation of its lofty use at this point of the day's service, 
we can imagine, a little, the effect, as the venerable king 
stretches forth his hands towards his son and his people, 
and says, " Now bless Jehovah your God," at which under 
the musicians a mighty psalm of praise and prayer arose. 

A PSALM FOR SOLOMON. 

Give the king thy judgments (or justice) O God, 

And thy righteousness unto the king's son. 

He shall judge thy people with righteousness, 

And thy poor with judgment (justice.) 

The mountains shall bring forth peace to the people 

And the little hills ; by righteousness 

He shall judge the poor of the people ; 

He shall save the children of the needy, 

And shall break in pieces the oppressor. 



* The title may read either "A Psalm for Solomon" or "A 
Psalm of Solomon." Nothing could be more apposite to the 
coronation of a son in the line of descent towards Messiah than 
this psalm, as David's Psalm for Solomon. 



452 



FIF T Y-EIGH TH S UNDA V. 

They shall fear thee as long as the sun and the moon endureth. 

Throughout all generations 

lie shall come down like rain on the mown grass ; 

As showers that water the earth. 

In his days shall the righteous flourish, 

And abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. 

He shall have dominion from sea to sea 

And from the river to the ends of the earth. 

They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, 

And his enemies shall lick the dust. 

The king of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents ; 

The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. 

Yea, all kings shall fall down before him. 

All nations shall serve him. 

For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth. 

The poor also, and him that hath no helper. 

He shall spare the poor and the needy, 

And shall save the souls of the needy. 

He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence, 

And precious shall their blood be in his sight. 

And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba. 

Prayer also. shall be made for him continually, 

And daily shall he be praised. 

There shall be a handful of corn in the earth 

On top of the mountains. 

The fruit shall shake like Lebanon, 

And they of the city shall flourish as the grass of the earth. 

His name shall endure forever. 

His name shall be continued as long as the sun ; 

And men shall be blessed in him. 

All nations shall call him blessed. 

Blessed be Jehovah God, the God of Israel, 

Who only doeth wondrous things ; 

And blessed be his glorious name forever ; 

A nd let the whole earth be filled with his glory ! Amen and Amen ! ! 

The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended. 

As the voices ceased, Solomon received the submission 
of the tribes. The representative princes and elders of 
the States of Israel, the sons of David, from Ahithophel to 
the youngest prince, the captains and mighty men of the 
army gave the hand* of loyal submission to Solomon. 



* xxix. 24. " Submitted themselves to Solomon." See Hebrew 
in margin, " gave the hand under Solomon." This "submission" 
may have followed after the return to the city of David. 



JEHO VAH" S HO USE AND ITS B UILDER. 45 3 

His grace and dignity and wisdom made a wonderful 
impression upon them, and exalted him in glory and 
honor for beyond the great inauguration of his father at 
Hebron thirty-three years before. 

Now followed sacrifices of peace and thanksgiving, 
meat-offerings and drink-offerings, after which the portions 
of the offerings reserved for feasting and belonging to the 
priests, the joints and ribs, and shoulders, and breasts, 
quickly boiled or roasted after the oriental manner, were 
distributed for the open-air feast and eaten in the presence 
of the Lord. Thenceforward throughout the day, the flocks 
and herds were slaughtered in sacrifice and for feasting, 
and the sacred festivities passed into social and domestic 
enjoyment. 

For the two full days sacrifices were kept up in sanctu- 
ary and outer altar, in uncounted numbers, the people 
bearing their meats from the sacrifices to their houses, 
tents and booths, the rulers and princes completing the 
arrangements for their gifts to the temple, and caravan after 
caravan at length departing to the tribes and distant 
cities, with chants and songs, and joyful conversation over 
the mountains and along the valleys of Israel. The dawn 
of peace had fully risen. The glory of the temple's mag- 
nificence was even already shining. 



Jfifttt-nintlj Sirnbag, 



THE LAST DAYS. 



LESSON. 

i Kings ii. t-io ; 2 Samuel xxiii. 1-7 ; 1 Chronicles xxix. 28-30. 

THE crowning solemnity of David's eventful life — a 
solemnity in which he had tried to make the glory 
God's and not man's — was now completed. All the 
preparations for God's Great House, so long the subject 
of careful and profound thought, had now been transmitted 
to a worthy son, approved in a lofty sense by God, 
accepted, admired, and revered by the people. One 
thing remained — to remove all serious danger which 
threatened the security of the new throne. Anxious 
thoughts filled the father's sagacious mind in respect to 
opposition which might arise while the reign was yet 
tender. Joab and Abiathar were guilty of treason. As 
for.Adonijah, he alone was harmless, and might be left to 
Solomon in his youth. Only when supported by design- 
ing and wily men, would he be strong. Abiathar was 
already removed from his position of power. Joab only 
was strong — a bold man, confirmed through a long life 
in a vindictive habit of mind, whose very defeat now would 
provoke resentment against the new king. He that slew 
Abner in treachery, he that slew Absalom in defiance of 
the king's command, he that slew Amasa in malicious 
jealousy, deserved before to die for his crimes, but he had 
(454) 



THE LAST DAYS. 



455 



now added to all these the direct treason of stimulating 
and supporting Adonijah. If he had done this in revenge 
upon David for displacing him from the army, he certainly 
would attempt some traitorous counter-check to Solomon's 
succession. Had not his impious will driven often head- 
long over his kind-hearted king, at times when Joab could 
plausibly justify his deeds by political necessity, long since 
would he have been brought to justice. It was right that 
he should die. It was not only right, it was necessary. 
Holiness and truth demanded it. Such riot over right 
government, such examples of rash and murderous impa- 
tience, by a bold will, set the example of lawlessness 
everywhere, to bold, unscrupulous men, on the accession 
of a new king. Both the old and new king before the old 
king's death should demonstrate the power of their justice 
as well as the glory of their grace. When, therefore, David 
saw that his end was near, he summoned Solomon to him 
and counseled him*. He appealed to him by his manly 
qualities. He appealed to his loyalty to God's law in 
which he had been carefully instructed, the foundation of 
his future prosperity. He appealed to him by the perpe- 
tuity of his throne to keep and exact Jehovah's law, and 
bring to its fulfilment Jehovah's promise in respect to the 
chosen line, and therefore to take heed to his children. 
In immediate connection with these solemn appeals to 
his observance of God's holy law, he pointed out Joab 
and his ill-deserts. He showed his unscrupulous and self- 
willed character, and painted his descriptions by his crown- 
ing crimes of a horrible, bloody, treacherous assassination 
of the rival captains of the host. As to Absalom's death, 
nat might be overlooked, in view of his zeal for the 
throne. Barzillai of blessed memory, let him be cared for 
with all personal attentions. But Joab, now traitor as well 
as criminal, who has now filled up the measure of his 
crimes, bring on him the just punishment of his crimes. 



456 FIFTY-NINTH SUN DA Y. 

Justice requires — the stable and true government of your 
own people requires his execution. He imposed horribly 
on my kind nature, and defied the laws of God and man. 
If he come to his grave full of honor and peace, it will 
commend his life and his crimes to the people. His grey 
head, grey though it may be, ought to come down to the 
grave with blood, for he was the real conspirator against 
your throne. But be wise in the manner of executing this 
punishment, for he is a man of power. 

As to Shimei of Bahurim, who blasphemed the Lord's 
anointed in the time of his weakness, his horrible crime 
deserves death ; but as he hastened to undo his wicked- 
ness on the day of my return over Jordan, I swore that / 
would lay no hand upon him. But he is verily guilty, and 
fully understands that he has no security beyond the end 
of my life. Thou knowest the law, the demands for its 
honor and purity before men, and his great guilt. Use thy 
wisdom, and enforce thy sense of righf, and see that his 
grey head receives the stroke which it deserves. 

Besides, what is here revealed of Shimei, it may be 
that he had been a pest and scoffer all the days of David's 
restoration ; and although keeping beyond the reach of 
authority and relying on the king's oath, had been beyond 
David's hearing, a well-known reviler of the Lord's 
Anointed. With a pretended, subservient repentance, he 
had been a hypocrite and blasphemer all his days. As 
much as in him lay, he had brought the worship and work 
of God into contempt.* 

* " Shimei remains rather a proof of David's magnanimity 
than of vengeance. It was not a little thing to tolerate the mis- 
creant in his immediate neighborhood for his whole life long 
(not even banishment being thought of.) And if under the fol- 
lowing reign also he had been allowed to end his days in peace 
(which had never been promised him) this would have been a kind- 
ness which would have furnished an example of unpunished hy- 
pocrisy that might easily have been abused." — Hess, quoted by Keil. 



THE LAST DA YS. 457 

It is unlike the life-long career of David to suppose that 
he was actuated by malignity or mere resentment. There 
may have been something of oriental vindictive indigna- 
tion, but a sense of justice and the imperative security of 
God's anointed, tided on the indignation to a righteous 
conclusion. The narrative puts the execution of Joab 
distinctly on the ground of the murder of Abner and 
Amasa. At any rate, Solomon, trained under all the 
kindly amenities and indulgence of David's family, treated 
his father's wishes with religious scrupulosity. 

There seems to be some reference to this charge to 
Solomon, in the last words of David. During the last 
failing months, and perhaps even just before his death, the 
poet and the saint, from his divan, syllables forth once 
more his rythmic descriptions of the just ruler. And, as 
if to fix it forever in the memory of his son and his court, 
and conscious of noble endowments from God himself, he 
sets the picture in a framework both of his own divinely 
illustrious title, and of his own claim to inspiration. 

THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID. 
David, the son of Jesse, said : 
And the Man who was raised up on high (as if from a lowly origin) 
The Anointed of the God of Jacob, 
And the Sweet Psalmist of Israel, said : 
" The spirit of the Lord spake by me, 
And his word was in my tongue. 
The God of Israel said 
The rock of Israel spake to me : 

1 He that ruleth over men must be just, 
Ruling in the fear of God ; 

And he shall be as the light, (of the morning when the sun riseth) 
Even a morning without clouds ; 
As the tender grass springing out of the earth 
By clear shining after rain.' 

Although my house be not so with God, (as if conscious of his imperfec- 

Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, [tions,) 

Ordered in all things and sure. 

Fur this is all my salvation and all my desire, 

Although he make it not to . 



453 



FIFTY-NINTH SUNDAY. 

But the sons of Belial 

Shall be, all of them, as thorns thrust away, 

Because they cannot be taken with hands. 

But the man that shall touch them 

Must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear, 

And they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place." 

At no distant day the king fell asleep, his eyes closed by 
his faithful attendants, his last days nourished and com- 
forted by Bathsheba and his courtiers. 

What a mourning must that have been which followed ! 
for no sooner has the feeble life departed, than the memo- 
ries of the extraordinary character of this truly great mon- 
arch rush upon every mind ! his mighty prowess and his 
tender affection ! his valiant youth and his sagacious old 
age ! his music and his tears, his firmness and his leniency ! 
his devotions and his penitence, his magnanimity and his 
justice, his lofty truth and his gentle humility, his great 
warfare in the kingdom in the name of God, his greater 
warfare in his tempest-tossed soul ! In all the studied 
publicity of oriental mourning, they bore him to his burial. 
Shrill cries of women resounded through the palace. Grave 
men rent their garments and remained silent. The household 
and friends and court put on sackcloth, covered their faces 
and fasted.* Servants and attendants and hired mourners 
cast earth and ashes on their heads. And amid singing 
men and singing womenf who chanted after him one of his 
own psalms or the great psalm of Moses, they bore out on 
a bier the precious body swathed in spices to the excava- 
ted sepulchre prepared in the city of David. There, on 
the southern point of the hill of Zion,t no doubt amid 
some of his own household who had preceded him, they 
placed him ; closing upon him the massive sliding doors 



* See the mourning for Saul and Jonathan and for Abner, 
Samuel xxxi. 13 ; 2 Samuel i. n, 12 ; 2 Samuel iii. 31-33. 
f 2 Chronicles xxxv. 24, 25. % See map on page 418. 



THE LAST DA VS. 459 

of stone, while the great multitude from all Judah and 
Jerusalem, and all Israel returned to continue for thirty 
days* their manifestation of grief and of respect. Every 
generation from Solomon to Nehemiah and from Nehemiah 
to St. Peter, could say as St. Peter did at Pentecost, " His 
sepulchre is with us unto this day."')" 

In many respects David is the greatest character in the 
Old Testament history. He combined with consummate 
ability, a wide sweep of action, the warmest and deepest 
heart and the loftiest purposes of human life ; and a large 
use of faculties belonged to every department of his char- 
acter. His productive mind, energetic body and ready 
address triumphed the same, in the most unlike emergen- 
cies. His powerful will, sagacious judgment and quick 
decision, rushed to the insolent challenge -of enemies, com- 
manded the universal respect of his subjects and neld his 
personal friends in strong admiration. His personal speech 
and quick wit moulded hostile persons and occasions. 
His tender sympathy swayed Ins friends as with a woman's 
affection and forgave personal injuries with a magnanimity 
truly divine. His musical genius enriched his nation and 
his age, while his poetic instincts have seized and swayed 
the deepest thoughts of all ages and races. His moral 
courage faced not only foes at home and abroad with fear- 
less heroism, but his own terrible sins, with more heroic, 
public confessions of his shame. His sense of truth and 
sympathy with holiness, divinely inwrought by the acknowl- 
edged Spirit of God, ruled his ideas of ruling and mightily 
"restored his soul" to the paths of righteousness. 



* For Jacob, seventy days (Genesis 1. 3) ; for Aaron and for 
Moses thirty days (Numbers xx. 29 ; Deuteronomy xxxiv. S) ; for 
Saul, seven days (1 Samuel xxxi. 13). 

f See Nehemiah iii. 16, and Acts Ii. 29. 



460 FIFTY-NINTH SUN DA Y. 

Like Noah, he was called to maintain justice against in- 
corrigible wickedness ; but while Noah was called only to 
witness God's punishment of the world, David was requir- 
ed himself to punish races with his own strong sword. He 
was not like Abraham called to test his faith by leaving 
home and kindred, but he was called to rule over a union 
of patriarchal tribes, to lead them up the growth of an 
ascending civilization, and to turn from the death of his 
beloved children to God's more important work. He was 
not like Moses an original lawgiver, but he addressed him- 
self to the more difficult task of executing the great Law- 
giver's code among that passionate, headstrong" people 
when they had grown free and powerful in the promised 
land itself, and when Egyptian tyrants and the terrible 
wilderness no longer constrained them to respect their 
leader. He was not simply a priest and judge like Samuel, 
but king indeed over priests and judges, himself king and 
priest pre-eminent through the rounded period of his life. 
Under him that nation of great moral forces, attained to 
the culminating level of its grand history. Like Noah, he 
was "a preacher of righteousness." Like Abraham, he 
was "a friend of God." Like Moses, he was a promulga- 
tor of law and the lofty psalmist. Like Samuel, he was a 
grand reformer and inspirer. He amplified and combined 
the grand qualities of them all, eacn quality moulded and 
shaded by its blended union with the others. No one of 
them all was so bruised and broken by the long, fierce, 
recurring assaults of affliction. No one of them all, for 
drunkenness or falsehood or ignoble impatience, so hum- 
bled himself in a sublime humility and grief for the divine 
honor's sake. No one of them made the language of 
feeling bear on its free flow the grandeur and variety of 
God's holy law — in wealth of song and prayer and praise. 
None of them swept again and again from youth to old 
age the thrilling hearts of a whole nation by valiant, high- 



THE LA ST DA VS. 46 ! 

toned deeds both in material and in spiritual life. Moses, 
the greatest of all before him, gave the law. David, like 
his Great Son, gave grace and truth to the law, by making 
patriotic occasions and personal attractions, and wealth 
of sensibility and royal affluence and every event great 
and small, exalt the worship and character of Jehovah, 
God of Israel. Abraham rejoiced to see the Messiah's day 
and was glad, but David seized upon God's gift to his own 
house of his Great Son, and looking down the coming 
line, bade himself and his successors call the Messiah, 
LORD. His great faults and great crimes were accompa- 
nied with such a great penitence and sublime submission to 
punishment, that God was not ashamed to select Bathshe- 
ba's son as the ancestor of Christ. Even with all his 
faults, David was a type of Christ. And therefore Christ, 
when he came in Bethlehem of Judah, was not called the 
Son of Noah, the Son of Abraham, the Son of Moses, or 
the Son of Samuel, but the Son of David. 



INDEX TO THE PSALMS. 

PSALMS OF DAVID. 

PSALM PAGE 

II. ........ 276, 277 

HI. 363 

IV 364,365 

V 247,248 

VI 336,337 

VII . 362 

VIII. ......... 249, 250 

IX 275 

X. . . . 

XI. ......... 90, 92 

XII. ......... 

XIII. ......... 129, 197 

XIV 393 

XV ■ . . 245 

XVI. . . . . . . . . 256, 257 

XVII 372 

XVIII. ....... 407, 408, 442, 443 

XIX. . 267,268 

XX. . . . .- 265 

XXI. . 274 

' XXII. . . . . . . . ... 393, 394 

XXIII. ........ 89, 90, 308 

XXIV. .......... 230,444 

XXV 141,197 

XXVI 196 

XXVII 194, 195 

XXVIII 345,394 

XXIX 311. 312 

XXX ^2i 

XXXI •. 147 

XXXII 335,336 

XXXIII 268 

XXXIV. ......... 99, 100 

XXXV 162,163 

XXXVI 244 

XXXVII. ......... 409, 410 

XXXVIII ,.. 344 

XXXIX. ......... 346, 347 

XL 354, 390-392 

XLI 372 



I] 



IXDEX TO THE PSALMS. 



PSALM PAGE 

XLII 370 

XLIII 37* 

XT. VII 322,323 

LI. . . . . . . . . . 333, 334 

LII in 

LIII 333 

LIV 118, 119 

LV 372,373 

LVI 102 

LVII 123, 124 

LVIII J94 

LIX 92-94 

LX 271, 272 

LX1 395 

LXII i34,i35 

LXIII 363,364 

LXIV 371 

LXV 246,247 

LXVI 324 

LXVII 247 

LXVIII 403,404 

LXIX 345 

LXX. ......... 392 

LXXI. ......... 408, 409 

LXXII. .. 451,452 

TXXXI 324,325 

LXXXVI 197, 198 

XCII 310 

XCIII 326 

XCV 243 

XCVI. ......... 231, 449 

XCVII 326 

XCVIII 242,243 

XCIX. ......... 244, 326 

C. ......... 325 

CI. . . . . . ■ . . . 222 

cm 301 

CIV 296 

CV. ........ 198, 199, 231 

CVI 232 

CVIII 271,272 

CIX. ......... 395-397 

CX 257,258 

CXX 318 

CXXI 314,315 

CXXII. ......... 292, 293 

CXXIV 315 

CXXVII 

CXXVIII 286 



INDEX TO THE PSALMS. iii 

PSALM PAGE 

CXXXI. . . 258 

CXXXII. ....... 255, 256, 449, 450 

CXXXIII 2S5 

CXXXIV 313 

CXXXVI 239,240 

CXXXVIII 248 

CXXXIX. . . 353,354 

CXL 

CXLI 

CXLII 123 

CXLIII 381 

CXLIV • 213,214 

CXLV. ........ 309, 444, 445 

"The Bow." 165,166 

Over Abner. ......... 193 

The Last Song. ....... 457, 458 

PSALMS OF ASAPH. 

L. ......... 277 

LXXIII 277 

LXXV 

LXXVI. . a 277,^23 

LXXXI 324,325 

PSALM OF MOSES. 
XC 312, 313 



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THE 




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Notes — Critical, Homiletic, and Illustrative — on the Holy Scriptures? 
forming a Complete Commentary on an Original Plan, especially 
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Volume IV. Corinthians to Philemon. 

" V. Hebrews to Revelation, 

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a most complete commentary is presented to the reador, as well as the most perfect 
Museum of Anecdote and Illustration that has ever yet been published, with additional 
advantage of the whole of the material being so arranged as to be instantly accessible 
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The Biblical Museum. — If anyone influenced by the armaments we 
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truth in what you say, and I should like to follow your advice. But how 
am I to do it? I am not a reading man — I never was ; and no one who is 
not a trained reading man can tell exactly what books to go to, and what 
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if I had, it would take a great deal more time than I could spare to ransack 
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success-, to hlend in one, the qualities of several kinds of commentary. Each 
verse, or each group of verses, winch are so closely related to each other as to 
be incapable of separate treatment, has first of all an explanatory note ap- 
pended, in which the letter and the religious meaning of the text are treated. 
On this follows a homileiic note, which gives outlines and hints for a sermon 
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is perfectly crowded with available sermon materials. The compiler quotes 
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forward as an example of holy self-denial, just as willingly as Fletcher, of 
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fresh. It would be the easiest matter possible to collect a whole encyclo- 
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breadth of sympathy. For instance, we casually open a single page, and, 
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THE MATERIAL. 

The author is a practical man, and there is very little, if anything, in his 
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240 



[Cap. iv. 1-8. 



2esus leaves 
Judcea for 
Galilee 



b La. ii 49. 
: * Let us not run 
fnt of th 

duty lest we run 
into the way of 
danger." — How- 
land mil. 

" What God calls 
a man to do. lie 
will carry him 
thiough. I would 
undertake to go- 
vern half a dozen 
worlds, if God 
called me to do it; 
but I would not 
undertake to go- 
vern half a dozen 
Bheep unless God 
called me to it."- 
Payson. 
< Ste/nsandTtcigs. 

" There is not a 

moment without 
Borne duty.' — 
Cicero. 

Jacob's well 
a Thomson, L. and 
B 472, 473; but 
Porter identifies 
it with Shech im 
Itself, lIcL-bookmr'. 
St/}-ia3lS; called 
by the Zionisms 
Flavia Neapolit, 
fr.wh.the present 
Arab name Nab- 
lous ; see Topics i. 
168,170. Itisab. 
34m.N.of Jerus., 
and 15 m, S. of 
Bamaria, betw. 
Mts. Gebal and 
Gerizim, at the 
entrance of wh. 
gorge is the well. 
b Ge. xxxiii. 10. 
c Joa. xxiv. 32. 
d Jacobus; Porter 
32.5; Robinson 
107-113; 
147, 240, 4-J8 
Bona'' 3C5-367. 

tDr. Bobtmon,' 



CHAPTER THE FOURTH. 

1 — 4. ■when, etc., the increasing fame of Christ soon bee. 
wictelv known. knew, a without the need of any special report, 
though., etc., hence, if He cared to do so, He could have di.v 
proved any charge of making proselytes, left, He knew the 
Pharisees' rage would soon develop into active hostility, and His 
hour was not yet come, needs, 6 both bee. it was the shortest way, 
and in tho line of His purpose. Samaria, with Judaea on S. 
and Galilee on N., occupied the anc. territories of the tribes of 
Ephraim and W. Manasseh. 

He must needs go. — I. To dispense a blessing. To the woman 
of Samaria. II. To correct a prejudice. " The Jews have no 
dealings," etc. III. To proclaim a truth. That he was the 
Saviour of others beside Jews. IV. To set an example to Hia 
disciples: 1. That they should preach to the Gentiles; 2. To 
show them how they should teach them ; 3. To show them that 
even among such they should have success. V. To prepare the 
way for His disciples. 8 

Simplicity of faith. — " What do you do without a mother to 
tell all your troubles to ? " asked a child who had a mother, of 
one who had none. " Mother told me whom to go to before she 
died," answered the little orphan. " I go to the Lord Jesus : Ho 
was mother's friend, and He's mine." — " Jesus Christ is in the 
sky. He is a way off, and He has a great many things to attend 
to in heaven. It is not likely He can stop to mind you." — " I do 
not know auything about that," said the orphan. M All I know, 
lie says lie will; and that's enough for me." 

5—8. Sychar (falsehood), identified, with a village called 
Aschdr, nr. Shechem. parcel .. Joseph., 6 where Joseph was 
buried. 8 Jacob's . . there, now quite dry, and closed by huge 
stone.** Bat thus, i.e., accordingly, being tired, sixth hour, 
12 noon, woman . . water, as the present cust. is. give, 
" He ask3 of her, in order to have her ask of Him." meat, His 
meat was to do His Father's will. 

The model Teacher. — I. Observe our Lord's zeal: 1. He went 
to a most unwelcome neighbourhood ; 2. He was satisfied to 
teach only one scholar ; 3. He laboured with a disagreeable pupil. 
II. His tact : 1. Ho was ingenious in catching an illustration to 
interest her mind; 2. He was quick in turning the illustration so 
as to impress her conscience. III. His spirituality : 1. He care- 
fully avoided all discussion of irrelevant matters : 2. He pressed 
home the one lesson persistently which ho wished her to learn. 
He told her : (1) The exact state of the case ; (2) Tho demandvS of 
God's law ; (3) Of the Redeemer's help/ 

Continuance in well-doing. — " "What is wanting hero ? " Raid a 
courtier to his sovereign, with whom he was riding, amid the ac- 
clamations and splendour of a triumphal procession. " Cosr- 
iixuANOE," replied the monarch. "So say I," adds Mr. James. 
"Tell mo, if you will, of your youth, your health, the buoyancy oi 
your spirits, your happy connections, your gay parties, your ele- 
gant pleasures, your fair prospects, and then ask me what ia 
wanting. I reply, ■ CoNXUiUANCK.' A single day may spoil every- 



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